


White Devil's Fleet

by CasualWriter23



Category: Gundam & Related Fandoms, Universal Century Gundam, 機動戦士ガンダム 逆襲のシャア | Gundam: Char's Counterattack, 碧蓝航线 | Azur Lane (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Military, Alternate Universe - Navy, F/M, Mecha, Navy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:54:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25843171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CasualWriter23/pseuds/CasualWriter23
Summary: A crossover between Gundam Char's Counterattack and Azur Lane. In an alternate aftermath of 2nd Neo Zeon War, Amuro Ray was ready to sacrifice his life to prevent the Axis from falling to Earth. But when the White Devil thought he was dead, fate had another plan to him and his Gundam in another world where humans alongside the shipgirls, the embodiment of WWII warships, are fighting the war against the malevolent alien race called the Sirens.Disclaimer: Gundam series belong to Bandai and Azur Lane belongs to Shanghai Manjuu and Xiamen Yongshi
Comments: 9
Kudos: 28





	1. Missing in Action

Universal Century 0093...

The final battle between the Earth Federation Special Forces task force of Londo Bell and Neo Zeon was about to reach its climax.

Neo Zeon, a newly newborn Axis Zeon, declared the war against the Earth Federation after a man named Char Aznable –who went missing after the Gryps Conflict- revealed himself to the public as the new Zeon leader. The man had decided that in order for humanity to evolve into the beings known as Newtypes, they needed to migrate into space to achieve it. However, his plan involved using the old Zeon asteroid base, Axis, being dropped on Earth to cause an eternal nuclear winter, eventually forcing all of its inhabitants to migrate to space in an effort to avoid annihilation.

In response to this threat, the Earth Federation dispatched the Londo Bell unit, a special task force composed of mostly former members of AEUG (Anti Earth Union Group) and Karaba resistance fighters. Both groups had fought against the Titans, an elite unit of the Earth Federation Forces known for their brutality and cruel methods that had gone rogue, in what later became known as the Gryps Conflict. This unit was led by Bright Noa and Amuro Ray, the veterans who had fought the Principality of Zeon’s forces ever since the One Year War, now over 14 years ago.

Despite facing multiple enemy ace pilots, numerous psycommu custom Mobile Suits, and Neo Zeon having a powerful assault Mobile Armor, the Alpha Azieru on their side, Londo Bell successfully carried out their attack and set off a massive detonation within the asteroid base meant to be used as a giant meteor upon the Earth. However, their objective was far from complete.

Because Axis had only been split into two pieces, one of which was still heading towards Earth and Londo Bell had no more nuclear warheads left to use...

* * *

Not too far from where Axis’ other half was descending, a white Mobile Suit, the RX-93 Nu Gundam drifted in silence while surrounded by the debris of the asteroid and destroyed Mobile Suit parts. In the Nu’s right hand was a red ball-shaped escape pod that was once a part of the MSN-04 Sazabi after their fierce duel which ended with the Gundam’s victory.

Inside the Nu Gundam’s cockpit was a man in his late twenties. He had short, wavy brown hair, brown eyes, and was clad in a white pilot suit without the helmet.

This man was Amuro Ray, the White Devil of the Earth Federation who had brought victory to Earth’s forces against the Principality of Zeon during the One Year War using the powerful prototype Mobile Suit, the RX-78-2 Gundam.

Amuro felt a chill run down his spine at the sight of Axis falling towards Earth. After all that planning, their plan had ended in failure...

The Gundam pilot’s face hardened again when he heard a voice emerge from his intercom as the Nu Gundam’s head turned to the escape pod in its hand. A small window which showed the face of the Sazabi’s pilot appeared on the panoramic screen.

Said pilot was a man in his early thirties. He had short, slicked back blond hair, blue eyes and wore an orange pilot suit. Like Amuro, he also didn’t have his helmet on.

This man was Char Aznable, the infamous Red Comet of Zeon, infamously known for his skills in Mobile Suit combat and his red ace custom Mobile Suits as his nickname suggested.

**_“You only delayed the inevitable, Amuro.”_** Char told his adversary. ** _“This is the Judgment Day for Earth. Why can’t you see that?”_**

“And what gives you any right to play god, Char!?” Amuro asked back with a frown and looked back at Axis. “It’s just an oversized boulder! My Gundam can push it away!”

If the White Devil bothered to pay attention to the face of the Red Comet right now, the latter looked mildly shocked by his bold statement, almost as if he wanted to say something along the lines of ‘you’re insane.’

**_“You’re out of your mind...”_ **

Amuro however paid no heed to Char’s words and responded in defiance. “We will see about that.”

**_“Commander!”_ **

Just before he could move his Gundam, another voice called him from the comm. On the cockpit’s radar, three green dots –identifying the newcomers as friendly units- appeared from behind his unit. The Nu Gundam turned around to see three RGM-89 Jegan Mobile Suits approaching. One of them had beam cannons -one on each shoulder- and an armored waist with missile pods. All of them were painted in dark navy blue and had yellow visors instead of blue which marked their status as custom units.

Three windows, showing the identities of the Jegan pilots, appeared on Amuro’s screen. While their faces were obscured by their helmets’ visors, Amuro knew who these pilots were.

They were the Tri-Stars team. A team consisted of three ace pilots: Nigel Garret, Daryl McGuiness, and Watts Stepney who specialized in spec-ops missions.

**_“Commander. Captain Bright told us to return to Ra-Cailum immediately to discuss our next move.”_** The Jegan piloted by Nigel, spoke first.

Amuro shook his head. “There’s not much time left. Axis will have fallen past the point of no return by the time we’re done.”

**_“Then what should we do, sir?”_** asked another Jegan, piloted by Daryl. **“ _We’re out of nukes and I doubt detonating our Mobile Suit reactors will be enough to blow it up.”_**

**_“Not like anyone would be crazy enough to pull that off...”_** added Watts.

The White Devil looked at the Sazabi’s escape pod in his Gundam’s hand. In Amuro’s mind, he really wanted to end the life of this megalomaniac. He understood his rival’s intention to save the Earth, but what was the point if the planet itself became uninhabitable in the end? And billions of innocent lives that would be dead in the process –even if said lives included the corrupted Federation officials- wouldn’t be worth it.

The Nu Gundam handed the red escape pod to the Jegan in the middle. Amuro then spoke again.

“Here. Take Char to the Ra-Cailum and tell Bright to call for a ceasefire with Zeon forces.”

**_“Wait! Char as in CHAR AZNABLE?!”_** The pilot of the Jegan with the beam cannons, Watts, exclaimed and pumped up his fist. ** _“Oh yeah! I knew you could kick his ass, Commander Ray!”_**

The Red Comet could only scoff at the childish attitude of the Federation pilot inside his escape pod. And this person was supposed to be part of a spec-ops unit?

Nigel stared at the red escape pod for a moment before letting out a sigh. **_“So this is the infamous Red Comet himself, huh? Alright commander, we’ll do it.”_**

The Jegan commander held the pod close to its chest and looked back at the Nu Gundam. ** _“But what will you do?”_**

“I’m going to push that stupid rock away from Earth!”

Amuro’s answer immediately earned him a trio of gasps from the Federation pilots. They all looked at the white Gundam as if their commander had grown a second head. The Axis asteriod was already entering the Earth’s atmosphere and being pulled in by its gravity. No Mobile Suit would ever to survive the heat and the pressure, let alone pushing it away.

**_“What!? Commander, that’s insane! It’s nothing more than suicide!”_** Watts exclaimed.

But his protest fell on deaf ears as Amuro chose to ignore him and turned around. At full speed, Nu Gundam boosted towards Axis. The two Jegans immediately moved to pursue Nu Gundam in order to stop its pilot from dying needlessly. However, Nigel stopped them first.

**_“Daryl! Watts!”_** Both pilots turned their Mobile Suits around to face Nigel. ** _“We’ve been given our orders to return with the POW to the ship.”_**

**_“But Nigel..!”_ **

“I’m sure Commander Ray has a plan.” Nigel told Daryl from his cockpit as he watched the blue flare of the Nu Gundam’s thruster became smaller. “He’s not a person who’ll throw away his life so recklessly.”

**_“...And how are you so sure about that, Federation pilot?”_ **

Nigel was mildly surprised to hear from Char and fell silent for a moment. Truth be told, he was also unsure if his commander could make it out alive in a situation like this. It was nothing more than a gut feeling after witnessing how Amuro cheated death more than once on their missions.

And hopefully, this wouldn’t be his last...

“I don’t remember asking you, Red Comet. But if you want to know the answer: I don’t. Call it a hunch or something like your Newtype thingy...” He answered.

**_“I see...”_ **

Not in the mood to engage in any further conversation with the enemy, Nigel let out another sigh and switched his comm line to a secured frequency so only his team could communicate with each other. The leader Jegan then waved its hand, motioning for its teammates to follow it.

The trip back to the Ra-Cailum was an intense one as the battle continued between the two clashing forces. Nigel’s Jegan kept the escape pod clasped tight to its chest while Daryl’s and Watt’s covered his sides, shooting down any incoming mono-eyed Zeon units that came close.

Two Geara Doga-class Mobile Suits emerged from behind one of the asteroid fragments and opened fire. Being the one who was carrying the POW, Nigel was quick to raise his shield to block the beam shots. Fortunately before Nigel could sustain any damage, Daryl’s Jegan slid in front of him and made short work of the enemy units.

Another group of three Geara Dogas, one possessing an antenna on its forehead, appeared from behind. All three Mobile Suits then aimed their shields and fired their sturm faust rocket launchers. While powerful enough to destroy even a warship, the projectiles were easily dodged by the Jegans due to the lack of homing capability.

The Jegans countered back by firing their missile shields. While smaller and less powerful, the small missiles had guidance systems installed and they were aimed at the Geara Dogas’ munition racks. The explosions threw the three Mobile Suits off balance, allowing the Tri-Stars to finish them off with their beam rifles.

“Guys, look out!” Daryl warned from his cockpit as a small red dot marked as unknown approached them quickly. “I’m picking something up here and it’s not one of those Zaku look-alikes.”

The three Jegans turned to face the oncoming threat. Before them a familiar Newtype-use Zeon Mobile Suit, the Jagd Doga, was coming at them. Like the original Jagd Doga, this one also possessed six remote weapon pods known as funnels, three on each shoulder. However, instead of being outfitted with a beam rifle and beam cannon shield, this one wielded a beam machinegun and standard shield similar to the Geara Doga and had a green color scheme.

**_“Son of a bitch! A funnel user!”_** cursed Watts, **_“How come we don’t have more Newtype pilots in our ranks!?”_**

Nigel however was the only one who kept his calm demeanor as he took out his beam saber and held it like a throwing knife. **_“I’ll handle this one...”_**

Before both Daryl and Watts could register what he meant, Nigel threw the beam saber in a spinning motion at the Jagd Doga. The enemy pilot saw this and took out his beam saber to knock away the incoming death copter while deploying his unit’s funnels. However, he didn’t expect the Jegan to fire its beam rifle at the spinning beam saber.

The result? The beam shots scattered into thin beam waves. While they were too weak to do any damage to a Mobile Suit, they were enough to cause a control malfunction on the funnels and destroyed them.

**_“W-What!?”_** The Jagd Doga pilot was caught off guard and didn’t even have time to react before he met his demise as another beam shot pierced his Mobile Suit’s chest.

From inside their cockpits, both Daryl and Watts were at a loss for words. Their mouths hung open slightly at how Nigel had just ‘no-sold’ a psycommu Mobile Suit, a type of enemy which inspired fear in even the Federation’s veteran pilots.

With no more hostiles detected on their radar, the team continued on their journey. A few minutes later, the team finally reached their destination as they could see Londo Bell’s flagship from inside their cockpits, the Ra-Cailum.

“Hmm... somehow I got a feeling you’ll be treated more like a guest rather than a POW in our ship...” Nigel murmured as he looked at the Sazabi’s escape pod and then sped up his Mobile Suit, followed by his teammates.

* * *

_With Amuro_

The Nu Gundam’s thrusters burned like no tomorrow as Axis kept falling. Its white armor plates started glowing red from the friction with the atmosphere as the Gundam dove past the asteroid before turning around. Now facing the rocky surface of Axis, the white Mobile Suit ejected its beam sabers –one on the back and one from the forearm- letting them be consumed by the heat of reentry and then emptied out all of its vulcan cannon ammunition in order to prevent internal heat buildup that might cause explosions.

Inside the cockpit, Amuro wiped off the sweat on his forehead before focusing his attention back to Axis. Despite the heat, the Gundam pilot didn’t show any sign of fear or worry for his own safety. All that remained was a look of determination, one that vowed to save the Earth even at the cost of his own life.

“Nu Gundam! Let’s do this!”

The white Mobile Suit then raised both its hands forward and began pressing against the rocky surface, pushing it. Its thruster output increased as the blue flare became longer. However the giant asteroid didn’t show any sign of slowing down, instead the Nu Gundam was slowly getting pushed back.

Blaring red warning signs filled the entire panoramic screen and klaxons blared, but they didn’t distract Amuro in the slightest. Gritting his teeth, the White Devil continued his mission.

“Urrrgh...!! No... not yet...!! Come on...!”

Small explosions began to occur on the Nu Gundam’s frame, especially on the left calf and the right corner of the backpack which made it lose some of its thruster power.

“Kuh! I know you can still do better than this!”

More of Nu Gundam’s armor began chipping away from the heat friction with the atmosphere. Beneath the chipped armor layer, a strange layer of glowing green components was revealed inside. From it, a yellowish green aura-like energy radiated out and swirled around the Nu Gundam’s frame.

The psycoframe...

“I didn’t... build you... Just for SHOW!”

Between his breaths, with all his remaining strength, Amuro pushed the controls further. At the same time, as if the machine was responding to its human partner’s emotions, the psycoframe was suddenly overloaded with immense power. A burst of psycowave energy then exploded from the leg boosters, skirt armor, chest vents, and shoulder armor thrusters.

Like a miracle that happened only in fairy tales, the psycowave energy began to form a butterfly shape on the Nu Gundam’s back before the ‘wings’ enveloped the asteroid whole. This time, Axis actually slowed down! By the time the psycowave encased all of Axis in its field which would later be known as a psycofield, the asteroid stopped moving, suspended in the sky before it slowly pulled itself away from Earth’s orbit...

But the psycofield didn’t just stop there. The aurora-like energy kept radiating as it extended all the way to where the other battles were taking place. When the psycofield touched a Geara Doga, the Mobile Suit suddenly twitched before it stopped moving, as if its main reactor had been deactivated from the inside.

A confused Jegan pilot then saw this as his chance for an easy kill, at least until the psycofield also affected his Mobile Suit as well.

It wasn’t just those two Mobile Suits, however. The psycofield kept spreading throughout the battlefield area, rendering any Mobile Suit it touched immobile. Soon after, all Mobile Suits from both sides had stopped working as the greenish yellow trail of psycowave energy surged past them, creating a visage of a rainbow in space.

Awed and amazed by the beautiful yet unnatural phenomenon, some pilots even started getting out of their Mobile Suits, despite the fact that they were just a few meters from their adversaries. And yet when the strange green energy wave touched their Mobile Suits, something inside them felt a warmth they hadn’t felt in a long time...

A warmth like a mother’s embrace along with a voice that told them there was no need to fight anymore...

A few moments later, both the flagships of Londo Bell and Neo Zeon, the Ra-Cailum and Rewloola fired their flares, signaling that the battle was finally over.

Back inside the now busted Nu Gundam, Amuro was breathing hard. The psycoframe had taken a toll on his body and mind worse than he thought. He could still hear the warning sirens, alerting him to the power failure as Nu Gundam started falling, pulled down by the planet’s gravity, but he was too exhausted to even lift a finger.

Was this how he would die? Free-falling to his death inside his Mobile Suit? Amuro wished there was a better way for him to go, but this was the fruit of his recklessness.

“Lalah... perhaps it’s really my time now...”

With a smile, Amuro closed his eyes, ready to accept his final moments before darkness finally overcame him...

* * *

Universal Century 0093, the final confrontation between the Earth Federation Forces and Neo Zeon ended with a phenomenon which would be later known as the Axis Shock. After the battle, an armistice between the Federation and Neo Zeon was signed. As a part of their peace treaty, Neo Zeon had to hand over the perpetrators to be tried.

One of them was obviously the Red Comet himself, Char Aznable. However, due to the growing concern over the reactions from the colony citizens who still viewed him as a revolutionary figure, the trial wasn’t publicized on mass media. This led many individuals and experts to come up with many assumptions and conspiracy theories on whether Char Aznable had been sentenced to death or not.

In the end, one could only take a wild guess as to what happened to a man named Casval Rem Deikun, the son of Zeon Sum Deikun. Not even the Londo Bell Captain, Bright Noa...

The Nu Gundam pilot, Amuro Ray, had been declared as MIA or missing in action since the recovery team which had been sent to the Axis couldn’t find any remains of the Mobile Suit nor could they find the pilot’s body. This news brought grief, especially to the people who were close to him: namely the Kobayashi and Noa families which had close ties to Amuro ever since the One Year War.

A month later, a memorial park and a life-sized human statue dedicated to the White Devil was created to honor his deeds as the Hero of the Federation in Canada, specifically in the town where Amuro Ray was born...

But what the Universal Century didn’t know was that this wasn’t the end of the White Devil’s story yet...

It was just a new beginning...

* * *

No matter wherever you are... War will never change...

In this world, similar to Earth, mankind found itself fighting for survival against a race of mysterious beings called the “Sirens.”

An alien force of unknown origin whose technology and weapons far surpassed the limits of Earth’s forces. When they suddenly appeared in the seas throughout the world, the Sirens launched a massive attack that reduced mankind’s population by 90% to almost near extinction.

Despite the one-sided slaughter thanks to their technological advantage, the Sirens actually gave mankind a ‘chance’ to fight them back on equal grounds. And thus, they gave humans a mysterious gift which would be known as the Mental Cube.

In the face of annihilation, a divided humanity finally stood in complete solidarity for the first time. Using the power of these mysterious cubes, the humans conducted many experimental projects on how to properly utilize them. After many attempts ended in failure, they finally discovered a way to beat the Sirens back.

The Shipgirl or KANSEN...

Taking the form of female humans, these girls weren’t ordinary humans as they bore the essence of their warship forms. They were physically stronger, carrying warship rigging which could be converted into the real size ships and packed artillery levels of firepower in human size.

In order to face this global threat, four nations: The Eagle Union, Royal Navy, Sakura Empire, and the Ironblood then formed an international alliance to combat the Sirens throughout the world. Soon after this organization was formed, countries with small naval power joined under their banner either to seek protection or to improve their naval warfare against the Sirens as well.

The Azur Lane...

With the combined might of the Shipgirls, the Azur Lane secured their first victory in open naval warfare against the Sirens. Slowly but surely, mankind with the help of the Shipgirls started to reclaim their lost seas...

But it wasn’t without a heavy price because the humans, who were part of the Azur Lane forces, including the shipgirls’ commander, had perished in the flames of war. Without the commander to keep the different factions united and lead them, the organization was left in care of the shipgirls.

And as if the situation couldn’t get any worse, one day it happened...

Different ideals amongst the members of Azur Lane divided them into two sides. Both Ironblood and the Sakura Empire believed that in order to win this war, they also needed to embrace the Siren technology and incorporate it into the Shipgirls while the Eagle Union and Royal Navy were strongly against it, fearing it would be too dangerous and corrupt the Shipgirls.

These two clashing ideals caused both the Sakura Empire and Ironblood to break away from the Azur Lane and form their new faction.

The Crimson Axis...

Initially, both parties didn’t mind each other’s presence as long as they didn’t get in each other’s way. However, things began to heat up between the two factions when Crimson Axis began invading smaller, neutral countries which didn’t want to take any part in the war which Azur Lane saw as a violation of their rights.

And thus, a three-way conflict was born from two clashing ideals and one common enemy.

* * *

_Azur Lane Base – Eagle Union Dormitory_

It was the nighttime at the Azur Lane base where most Shipgirls and various personnel were already in their dorms. The air raid led by the Sakura Empire’s 1st Carrier Division, Akagi and Kaga, although it was stopped by the Union’s carrier, Enterprise, had dealt a lot of damage to the base.

Some shipgirls were also damaged from the attack. Fortunately, none of them suffered fatal injuries. However, most of their riggings, which were in their warship forms prior to the attack, had been badly damaged to the point that they were beyond repair. The lack of proper repair ships and facilities only made it worse. As the result, some shipgirls had no choice but to allow their riggings to be scuttled.

Inside one of the rooms at the Eagle Union dorm was a Union shipgirl in her bed, trying to sleep. She had long silver hair, purple eyes, and wore a sleeveless white shirt and a short black skirt.

Her name? The CV-6 USS Enterprise.

Her room didn’t have anything fancy, consisting of simple wooden furniture and bookshelf that contained a collection of naval strategy books and medals. Her peaked cap, tie and coat dangled on the hanger near the wardrobe while her bow was placed under the window. Empty ration cans were scattered across her desk, implying she didn’t have her dinner at the dining area.

The silver-haired carrier seemed to have trouble sleeping as she kept moving around in her bed uncomfortably. No matter how long she tried to close her eyes, she just couldn’t. Her body was telling her to rest, but her mind refused to comply. She felt that she should be out there on patrol, ensuring the base’s safety. After the attack, the base was even more vulnerable as most shipgirls were out of commission.

“Ugh...” distressed, Enterprise slowly got out of her bed and shook her head to fix her messy hair. Maybe a glass of warm water would help.

The sound of footsteps silently echoed throughout the hallway as Enterprise had to make sure that she wouldn’t disturb anyone who was asleep. The nearest water dispenser was located at the corner next to the staircase so she had to walk a bit.

Enterprise suddenly shivered. While the base was located in a sub-tropical region, it could become quite cold at night.

“Should’ve worn my coat...” She muttered.

After filling her cup with a mix of cold and hot water, Enterprise drank it in a single go. A wet and warm sensation soothed her dry throat all the way down, giving the carrier a more relaxed outlook as she threw the empty paper cup into the nearby trash can.

But just as she was about to walk back into her room, something caught her attention from outside.

Curiosity got better of her. Instead of returning to her room, the humanoid carrier went to the balcony where she could see a faint light coming from outside. And what she found there was something she never expected to see.

It was an aurora, a natural phenomenon that only happened in the northernmost area of the world. Part of the sky was filled with yellowish-green sparkling lights flowing like a river. The last time she saw it was in the Northern Parliament when the light cruiser Avrora invited the Azur Lane members with her as the representative of the Eagle Union, along with Hornet, and...

“Yorktown...” Enterprise’s head dropped slightly, feeling a bit somber when she mentioned that name but then shook her head.

_‘No! I must not dwell on the past!’_ She mentally told herself before she looked up again. This wasn’t the time for that. As beautiful as the aurora was, out of all places, how and why could it appear here?

Before Enterprise could think of any possible answer, the carrier spotted something like a shooting star coming out of the aurora. As it fell from the sky, the aurora slowly disappeared and the sky was once again filled with stars.

The carrier’s eyes went wide when she realized that the falling star was heading fast towards the forest on the far side of the island, and...

**_*KA-BOOOOMM!!!*_ **

A loud explosion, followed with a quake shook the entire island and Enterprise had to shield her eyes from the explosion. When it finally died down, the carrier leaned forward, looking at the location where the star had fallen.

Down below, the other buildings turned on their lights again and many shipgirls came out in their sleepwear, ranging from pajamas to nightgowns. Most appeared to be on alert while a few still looked sleepy.

Enterprise immediately ran back to her room and grabbed her peaked cap, coat, and her bow. While her rigging wasn’t fully fixed yet, at least she still could use her bow for self-defense.

Heavy footsteps echoed throughout the corridor as the carrier made her way outside. When Enterprise passed the last door at the corner, it opened and another shipgirl came out running, following the carrier.

The girl had a long blonde hair with her left side tied into a ponytail and red eyes. She wore a white cape over her blue and white shirt, a pair of black fingerless gloves, a black skirt with a red outline, a pair of USA flag themed socks and white sneakers.

This girl was the USS Cleveland, the light cruiser of Cleveland Class.

“Enterprise! What’s going on?” Cleveland asked as she trailed behind Enterprise, “That was an earthquake, wasn’t it?”

“A meteor hit the far side of the island.” Enterprise replied, “I have to check if it’s dangerous or not.”

“Then I’m going with you.” replied Cleveland. “You could use an extra hand.”

As the two shipgirls went outside to investigate the meteor site, two more shipgirls in their pajamas walked out of the room beside Cleveland’s. Compared to both Enterprise and Cleveland, they appeared to be a lot younger in appearance.

The first one had light purple medium hair and blue eyes while the other had long fluffy white hair tied into twintails, red eyes and wore a pair of fake rabbit ears.

They were the destroyers from J-Class and Benson class: HMS Javelin and USS Laffey.

“Hmmm... so noisy...” Javelin muttered. The destroyer then rubbed her eyes and looked at the direction where Enterprise and Cleveland had gone to. “Why is everyone getting so worked up at this hour?”

“Laffey... couldn’t sleep at all...” In mere seconds, Laffey dropped her head and closed her eyes and...

“Zzzz.....”

**_*THUD!*_ **

“Hya!?”

…fell to the floor, which made Javelin shriek in surprise. The Royal destroyer gave her friend and roommate a worried look before Javelin kneeled and gently shook her shoulder to wake her up.

“Wake up, Laffey. You can’t sleep on the floor like this.”

“Zzz...” Unfortunately the bunny girl didn’t respond and kept snoring. After trying to wake Laffey up several times, Javelin finally gave up and sighed.

“Haaa... I guess I have to carry you back inside...”

The destroyer then shifted Laffey –still snoring- into a sitting position before pulling her back. However, much to her surprise, Javelin found herself struggling to pull Laffey back inside.

“Hnngggh...!! S-since when are you this heavy!?”

* * *

_With Enterprise and Cleveland_

Enterprise, Cleveland and two additional Royal Navy shipgirls were carefully navigating their way inside the forest as the darkness and the density of the trees limited their visibility. These Royal shipgirls had been ordered by their highness to investigate the meteor site in an effort to determine whether it could bring any danger to the base. Cleveland then proposed an idea that they should cooperate to make the search easier, something the two Royal ships agreed on.

The first shipgirl was as old, if not slightly older than Cleveland. She had shoulder length hair tied into a braided bun with two front sides and blue eyes, wearing a blue and white long sleeved shirt which showed her navel and a pair of white silk gloves, a blue miniskirt with white outline and black waist area and a pair of white long boots. On top of her head, she wore a ship bridge piece of headwear, but what really caught the eye was the sword scabbard she was carrying.

Her companion had an appearance similar to the first, indicating their relationship as sister ships of their class. However she had shorter brown hair tied into braids and a small ponytail while her shirt had a white and black color scheme. Like her sister, she also carried a sword scabbard like a knight.

They were HMS Renown and Repulse, battlecruisers from the Royal Navy and the pupils of HMS Hood.

“I’m really glad you girls could join us.” Cleveland said, looking at the Renown sisters behind them. “With the four of us, we can make this go easier.”

“No, the pleasure is ours.” replied Renown as she brought her sword to her chest. “Being able to carry out this important mission given by her highness with the best warriors from the Eagle Union is really an honor for a knight of the Royal Navy.”

“Oh, I-I see then. Ah-ha-ha...” Cleveland replied with a nervous smile, unsure what to make of the blonde ship’s unexpected and overdramatic response.

“You have to forgive my sister, Cleveland. She can be a bit too formal, I think.” Repulse giggled as she rested her hands behind her head. “You’ll get used to it.”

“Sister, you are too laid back.” Renown scolded her. “Warriors of the Royal Navy should maintain-”

“Her dignity and elegance wherever she goes. Yeah, I know that.” Repulse cut her off and waved her hand dismissively, “But-”

“We’re almost there.” Enterprise’s voice instantly focused everyone’s attention to the matter at hand.

As the four finally walked out of the woods, the shipgirls found themselves in a clearing surrounded by the trees. During the day, this place was usually used for outdoor games, picnic or outdoor tea parties held by the Royal Navy on special occasions. However the reason why they came here now was because this was where the meteor Enterprise saw from the balcony had fallen.

“Oh my...”

“By the Queen...”

“Whoa...”

The girls, except Enterprise, gasped in mild shock at what they were seeing now. Right before their eyes was a huge impact crater on the ground, and the nearby trees around it had been blown to shreds. Smoke could be seen rising from the center of the hole.

Cleveland then noticed Enterprise stepping forward first to get a closer look. “Enterprise?”

“I’m going to check it out.” She answered and glanced behind her. “Are you coming?”

“Wait! How do we know if it’s safe for us to approach it!?” asked the Union light cruiser. Much to her chagrin, the carrier ignored her question completely and jumped inside.

With a sigh, Cleveland looked at Renown and Repulse who gave affirming nods, knowing what to do as they followed her. Enterprise used her left hand to slow her slide as she made her way down to the bottom. Once she landed, the carrier dusted off her coat and bow.

But when Enterprise turned to the object in the middle of the crater, for the first time the carrier felt speechless as she gasped. Her purple eyes widened and her mouth hung open in utter disbelief.

“W-what on earth...” She stuttered, finding herself at a loss for words at the sight before her. “...Is that thing?”

What the carrier thought to be a meteorite had turned out to be a humanoid machine in the middle of the crater. It had a white head with two stacked v-shaped yellow antennas under the black forehead with a hole on each side, a pair of green ‘eyes’, a red chin, a black and white body with two yellow ‘vents’ on its chest, red highlights on the stomach and waist areas, topped off by white shoulders, arms, and legs with black on its calves and feet.

The machine wasn’t in good condition either. It was badly damaged as Enterprise could see scorch marks on its chipped armor frame. It was almost like the machine had gone through one hell of a battle.

While she wasn’t a tech geek, Enterprise highly doubted that the Ironblood could make something like this, for one it lacked any of the insignia that they were so proud of and the white and black color didn’t really go well with their preferred crimson and black.

The Sakura Empire? That mere thought even made the carrier shake her head.

_‘But then... Where did it come from? And more importantly: What is this..?’_

“Yo Enterprise!” Cleveland’s voice snapped her back from her thoughts as the carrier turned to the light cruiser who just had arrived with two Royal battlecruisers behind.

Needless to say, their reactions were more or less similar at what they were seeing in front of them.

“What did you- WHOA! What is that!?”

“My goodness! What in the queen’s name is that?”

“Wow! That’s certainly not something you’d see every day!”

“That’s the meteor.” Enterprise answered and narrowed her eyes. “Or at least what we thought it to be.”

The three shipgirls took their time analyzing the machine in front of them for a moment until Cleveland spoke first.

“But... who built this? And how did it fall from the sky?” The light cruiser turned to Enterprise.

“That’s what we shall find out.” replied the carrier as she walked forward. “Be careful. For one, we still don’t know if it still can move or not.”

The three shipgirls nodded and followed Enterprise with caution as they approached the metal giant which they would learn its name as ‘Mobile Suit’. Fortunately much to their relief, by the time they were just a few feet away from its legs, the Mobile Suit still didn’t show any response.

Curiosity then got the better of Cleveland. The light cruiser crept closer and touched the Mobile Suit’s foot first and rubbed her hand up and down the metal.

“Wow... I wonder what this thing is made of...” said Cleveland, amazed. “It doesn’t feel like the steel we’re familiar with.”

Meanwhile, Enterprise climbed up the left leg and then looked at the red area under the Mobile Suit’s chest. For some reason, the carrier felt that it looked like some kind of hatch where a person could fit inside. Like the cockpit for her fighter and bomber planes, except those were unmanned.

_Could it be… that someone is piloting this thing!?’_

Carefully, the silver-haired woman moved to the chest area, something which Cleveland and the Renown sisters noticed.

“Hey, wait for us.”

The carrier, light cruiser, and battlecruiser duo now found themselves encircling the red hatch on the Mobile Suit’s body with Cleveland trying to open it but to no avail. Having been informed of what the red hatch could be by Enterprise, Cleveland -confident in her strength- offered to open it herself.

And much to her distress the light cruiser now was sitting, panting from exhaustion.

“Urrrgh... _(pant)_ it’s... _(pant)_ heavier than... _(pant)_ I thought... _(pant)_ ” Cleveland said between breaths.

“You did as best you could, Cleveland.” Enterprise reassured as she patted her shoulder before turning to the Royal shipgirls. “Perhaps there’s another way to open it? Like a switch or something?”

“I’m afraid I haven’t seen anything like that, ma’am.” Renown then noticed Repulse’s thoughtful expression, “Sister? You know something?”

“I... think I saw this button on its feet before coming up here.” answered Repulse. “It says ‘For Authorized Personnel Only’.”

“WHAT!?” Cleveland suddenly stood up, surprising Enterprise, and pointed her finger at Repulse, upset. “And you tell us this now!? Ugh! I can’t believe you, Repulse...”

“Ehehe.. Sorry.” The battlecruiser scratched the back of her head with a slightly mischievous look.

After the little squabble they had, Repulse then jumped off and walked over to verify Repulse’s words. Sure enough, on the Mobile Suit’s right foot was a circular-shaped button as big as her hand. However, due to its black color which blended in with the foot, she was the only one who took notice of it.

A low hissing sound followed by pressurized air came out from the two yellow vents, surprising Enterprise, Cleveland, and Renown. After it was over, the red hatch then produced a sound like a lock opening and was raised slightly. Cleveland crouched down and tried to lift it open again, and this time it felt almost weightless.

“It’s open.” She said to Enterprise who nodded back. “Now time to reveal the truth... hi-yah!”

The Union cruiser then fully lifted open the hatch, allowing the three to see what was inside. And what the shipgirls found inside shocked them to their cores (or cubes) as they could only stare at the lone occupant of the cockpit, eyes wide and mouths open.

Inside the cockpit was a human, a male human who look like in thirties and he was unconscious. He wore a full body white suit they had never seen before but it appeared to be some kind of pilot suit.

A small part inside the girls, safe for Enterprise, suddenly sparked with mix of curiosity and nervousness for various reasons. Curious because it had been a long time since they ever interacted with men and nervous because the last men they ever interacted with were their commander and high officers from Azur Lane admiralty who were all in their fifties or sixties.

In other words... these shipgirls never had any interaction with young men before and only saw them from books or magazines.

“It’s... it’s a man.” Renown finally broke the silence.

“Yeah...” Cleveland nodded in agreement before noticing Enterprise suddenly went forward inside. “E-Enterprise! What are you doing?”

“Step aside. I’m getting him out there.” was Enterprise’s reply before she came out, carrying the unconscious man in fireman’s carry. “Hrngh! He’s a bit heavy...”

But when she turned around, Cleveland’s face was inadvertently stroked by the man’s brown hair from standing too close with the carrier which caused her to back away a bit.

“We have to bring him back to be treated.” The carrier turned to the blonde battlecruiser. “Our dorm is fully occupied. Do you have an empty room at your place?”

Renown nodded back. “Yes, the Royal Mansion has a few empty rooms preserved for the guests from Royal Isle. We can take him there but we must inform Lady Wales first.”

“Then we should waste no time.” Enterprise then turned to the Union light cruiser who looked a bit dazed. “Cleveland. We’re leaving this place now.”

“Ah? Oh. Okay, I’m coming.” replied the blonde cruiser.

But as Enterprise and Renown jumped off the chest to meet back with Repulse, Cleveland’s mind went back to when Enterprise accidentally stroked her face with the man’s hair. It was only for a moment, but she could smell the scent of the hair mixed with the sweat.

And it somehow felt like...

_NO!!’_ The cruiser mentally screamed to herself, shaking her head to dismiss any dirty thought as her face turned red. _‘I-I can’t believe I got... excited from THAT?! I’m... I’m not Portland, dammit!’_


	2. Azur Lane's Guest

_Side 7 – Earth Federation Armory Complex_

Chaos erupted throughout the Side 7 Colony as civilians scrambled towards the spaceport. Despite the early warning for the people to evacuate to the docked Federation warship due to incoming Zeon forces, a one-sided battle had already erupted with the Earth Federation suffering massive casualties from Zeon's more advanced MS-06F Zaku II Mobile Suits.

Among the evacuees was the 15 year old Amuro Ray –at the time still a civilian– who was holding what appeared to be a blue manual with a yellow V letter on its cover which he had found near the body of a dead Federation officer. His feet furiously skidded against the ground as he ran towards the nearby wrecked vehicle convoy, hoping to find the Federation’s secret weapon, the ‘Project V’ Mobile Suit.

The book in his hand was the instruction manual for a prototype Mobile Suit, written by his own father, Tem Ray, who also was the head engineer for the project.

An undamaged Mobile Suit trailer truck was finally in his sight. Laying on the trailer’s bed, covered in a beige tarp, was a Mobile Suit with predominantly white and blue colors from what little Amuro could see.

After climbing up the trailer all the way onto the Mobile Suit’s chest, doing his best to ignore the bodies of various Federation personnel scattered around, Amuro discarded the cover and peeked inside the cockpit.

“Look at that... it’s on...” He wondered aloud.

Giving the lone Zaku II responsible for the massacre that was currently shooting random weapon emplacements one last glance, Amuro then jumped inside the cockpit. He examined its interior before pushing several buttons and switches, following the instructions from the book carefully.

“It’s just like the manual... this machine must be incredibly powerful...”

A low humming activation noise sounded from the Mobile Suit as the cockpit hatch automatically closed and the main camera screens came to life. As the Mobile Suit’s arms began to move, the nearby Zaku II noticed this activity and fired its machine gun at the shifting Mobile Suit.

But much to the Zeon pilot’s surprise, those bullets, which were comparable to tank shells in terms of power, bounced off against the white Mobile Suit’s armor as if they were harmless pellets. Inside the Zaku cockpit, the pilot could only watch in awe and fear as the white Mobile Suit slowly rose up from the trailer, and stood firm on its feet. Pressurized air came out of the Mobile Suit’s chest vents as its ‘eyes’ and forehead sensors lit up, showing off its menacing visage further.

The RX-78-02 Gundam had finally made its battlefield debut...

* * *

A pair of brown eyes suddenly opened and Amuro Ray found himself staring at an empty ceiling as he finally returned to the world of the living. The Gundam pilot then shifted his body into a more comfortable sitting position.

“Nggh... what a dream...” Amuro rubbed his temples for a moment, still feeling a bit lightheaded.

Then moments later, realization finally kicked in.

“Huh!?” The Gundam pilot’s eyes suddenly shot open as he looked at both his hands, clenching and relaxing them a few times to make sure he wasn’t dreaming anymore.

Yes, this was real. He was still alive, having escaped from death’s grasp once again.

“I’m... I’m still alive? But how..?”

Amuro rested his left arm on his lap and put his right finger under his chin in thought. The White Devil then tried recalling the events prior to his current situation. The last thing he remembered before falling unconscious was his Nu Gundam’s energy running out and plunging into Earth's atmosphere.

Which should be impossible for him to survive as any human would be turned into a bloody paste from the impact even if the Mobile Suit was somehow still in one piece.

“...! The psycoframe!” Amuro’s eyes widened in realization when he remembered how before the power failure –while he was desperately pushing the Axis asteroid– the Nu Gundam unleashed an immense amount of psycowaves in the form of a greenish-yellow aura which enabled him to push back the half of the asteroid base that had been falling towards Earth.

Was it the reason why he survived the fall? But how did that even work?

_Maybe there are still a lot of things I don’t understand yet...’_

**_*CREAK...*_ **

Then the sound of a door opening made Amuro snap out of his own thoughts as he turned to the only door in the room.

A maid carrying what appeared to be a set of white clothes and a pair of black leather shoes entered the room carefully. She had shoulder length purple hair tied into a braid with a dark blue ribbon at the end of it and blue eyes. Her maid uniform appeared to be a Victorian-style design that consisted of a maid headpiece, a black long dress with white frills under a white apron, a pair of black shoes, and... an armored(?) corset around her waist.

The maid then placed the uniform on the nearby stand and bowed to the Gundam pilot.

“Good morning, master. Did you sleep well?” She greeted in a polite manner. “My name is Curlew. I have been tasked by my mistress to provide you with a change of clothing.”

Amuro was about to ask the maid who her mistress was, but after hearing the last part, he suddenly became self-conscious of his own decency. Amuro then peeked inside the blanket only to notice that he was only in his undergarments: a white tank top and a pair of striped grey boxers much to his embarrassment.

Curlew put her hand over her mouth to suppress her laughter, clearly finding the man’s reaction quite amusing.

Heaving out a sigh, Amuro let the blanket fall back down and he turned to Curlew. “Thank you. Can you wait outside while I’m changing?”

Curlew bowed again. “As you wish, master.”

And with that, Curlew walked out of the room and closed the door, leaving Amuro alone in his bed again. The White Devil glanced around the room which had a classic British style from the looks of the wallpaper, flooring, and the various pieces of furniture.

Amuro had many questions. What kind of place did he end up in to be rescued by some sort of royal family? Who was Curlew’s mistress? And most importantly, where was his Nu Gundam?

Knowing that he wouldn’t get any answers by just staying in the room, Amuro put away the blanket and turned around. He winced slightly when he felt some of his muscles ache. Still, aches and pain was usually a good sign that he was going to live. At least he was alive to get the news, no matter how it was going to go. But typically, yeah, for a Mobile Suit pilot like him, waking up to aches and pain usually meant he'll live.

Until the next stupid stunt.

The wooden floor creaked slightly with his movement as Amuro adjusted himself and got out of his bed to get his clothes. He felt his body a bit heavier from the gravity which felt more stable and stronger compared to those in the colonies.

"Bright's probably going to ream me after this..." Amuro thought aloud as he took the folded shirt laid on the top. "And Dr. Hasan will likely read me the riot act..." he sighed, "Again and the both of them no less..."

However when he inspected the shirt, Amuro found something unusual...

“Isn’t this... a navy shirt?” He wondered. “But... who’s still using this uniform?”

While he wasn’t exactly a military expert, Amuro knew this kind of uniform without a doubt would violate the Federation dress code. Heck, it was even more suitable to be an exhibit in a war museum. Perhaps it was from a personal collection? At least it was better than walking around in his underwear.

A few minutes later, Amuro –now wearing a Summer White Service uniform– walked out of his room where Curlew was waiting for him. The Royal Navy maid then gave him a warm gentle smile.

“It looks good on you, master.” She complimented. “I’m glad the sizes fit your shape well.”

_I feel more like a clown in a parade.’_ He mentally grumbled and nodded back. “Thanks. But drop the master title and just call me Amuro, ma’am.”

“As you wish, Master Amuro.” replied Curlew much to the White Devil’s slight annoyance. “Now I shall escort you to meet with the mistress.”

The Royal maid then led the Gundam pilot down the hallway. The trip was rather uneventful as they passed arched windows and gold framed royal portraits on the wall. Amuro looked outside the window and took note of a blue sea with seagulls hovering around in circles over the waters.

He could guess he was in an island located in the Pacific somewhere. It wasn’t too hot out, yet, as the Sun has yet to reach midday. The island was hilly for the most part, with rolling green hills and some trees to make a small forest off to one side. Interestingly enough, the trees were not just tropical, but Evergreens as well and the grass appeared to also be a mix of tropical and ordinary grass.

"Area must be straddling the climate zones," Amuro muttered to himself as he observed the world outside the window while following the maid.

The buildings near what he assumed to be a medical facility of some kind have some older designs in them. Typically mid-20th to late 19th Centuries of the AD Calendar of a mix of North American and European design which made him frown as he observed the solid concrete of the ground below and noted a building that appeared to be late 20th to early 21st Centuries AD of Asian design.

“Miss Curlew.” The maid looked back at Amuro over her shoulder after calling her name. “Can I ask you something?”

“I shall do my best to answer.” replied Curlew. “What do you want to ask, master?”

“What is this place? And how did your mistress find me?” asked the White Devil.

Curlew answered him as they kept walking. “You are currently in the Royal Mansion area of Azur Lane, Master Amuro. As for how the mistress found you, maybe it’s better if you ask her in person as I was only tasked to deliver your clothes.”

“Azur... Lane...?” Amuro whispered, cocking his eyebrow at the unfamiliar name. “What’s that?”

* * *

_Azur Lane – Mess Hall Area_

The mess hall, or canteen as the younger shipgirls often referred to it as, was one of the main places in Azur Lane where the personnel gathered to enjoy their meals. Considering that some girls had their ship riggings scuttled in the wake of the air raid, they opted to work as additional staff.

One example was the Eagle Union battleship, the BB-36 Nevada who now worked as the cook. Nevada had the appearance of a young woman who looked slightly older than Enterprise. She had shoulder-length blonde hair, yellow eyes, tan skin, and wore a cowgirl-themed outfit that consisted of a white cropped shirt with red neckwear, brown puffy short sleeves and a long brown skirt which partially covered her black miniskirt, thigh-highs, and red heels. She also wore a pair of black and brown fingerless gloves and sitting on top of her head was a head accessory which looked like a ship’s funnel.

“Alright. Here you go.” Nevada said as she placed down a tray of Big Mac hamburgers and fries in front of a Union cruiser who was none other than Cleveland.

The blonde girl literally had stars in her eyes and her mouth was slightly drooling at the sight of her favorite food before taking the tray.

“Now this is what I call food! Thanks Nevada.”

An amused yet slightly prideful smile crept across the battleship’s face as she watched Cleveland leave with her lunch. With her rowdy cowgirl appearance and slightly muscular build, no one would ever expect Nevada to be an excellent cook at first glance.

The battleship then turned to her left, towards the shipgirl who was serving beers to a table of three ships. Like Nevada, she also wore similar clothing but with slight differences such as detached sleeves, a brown miniskirt and long leather boots, emphasizing her more girlish style. She also appeared to be younger than Nevada and she had short platinum blonde hair, blue eyes, and a lighter skin tone as opposed to Nevada’s.

This girl was the BB-37 Oklahoma, Nevada’s younger sister.

“Yo, Okie! After you’re done, could you lend me a hand here?” She called.

Cleveland was making her way through the crowd of shipgirls who were enjoying lunch while carefully bracing her tray so her food wouldn’t get spilled. After looking around for empty tables, a girl from a group of three stood up and waved at the cruiser, getting her attention.

“Cleve~, over here!”

The first girl, who waved at Cleveland, had short platinum blonde hair stylized into twin pigtails and blue eyes. She wore a black short dress with six buttons under her white and red long hooded jacket, a pair of red gloves, black socks, and black and red boots.

The second girl, who was chewing bubblegum, had strawberry blonde hair that went past her shoulders and magenta-colored eyes. Her getup consisted of a white and blue t-shirt with a yellow star motif on the chest which exposed her navel, a pair of white wristbands, denim shorts with a leather belt, a knee-length sock with red and white stripes motif on her left leg, and a pair of white and red sneakers. She also had sunglasses placed right above her eyes and a dog tag with a set of headphones around her neck.

Unlike the rest, she didn’t wear any cape or long jacket and she had a slightly more endowed body shape.

The third girl had long platinum blonde hair that had two sides which looked like feline ears, a long ponytail which went past her knees, and red eyes similar to Cleveland. Her clothing consisted of a white and dark blue shirt under her slightly tattered white cape, a pair of fingerless gloves, dark blue shorts, black thigh-highs, and armored shoes.

These girls were USS Denver, Columbia, and Montpelier, the sister ships of the Cleveland-class cruiser. Together with Cleveland as their leader, they were also known as the Solomon Knights.

Cleveland returned the gesture with a smile and walked towards their table before sitting next to Montpelier. The latter suddenly felt a bit tense as a light blush appeared on her cheeks.

“Thanks for saving a seat for me.” The eldest sister then looked at the three. “So, have you girls eaten yet?”

“We finished a few minutes ago.” answered Denver who then gave a questioning look. “Hey Cleve, what happened yesterday? There was a commotion outside and when we woke up, you were already gone.”

Cleveland cocked her eyebrow at her youngest sister. “You mean you didn’t know?”

Denver shook her head. “I wore earmuffs yesterday when I was sleeping, so I didn’t hear anything.”

Cleveland then turned to Columbia who tapped her headphones.

“I fell asleep while listening to my music.”

She finally turned to Montpelier who looked a bit embarrassed. “Monty?”

“I... I guess I was just a heavy sleeper, sis.” The light cruiser shyly admitted as she scratched the back of her head.

The three sisters giggled before Montpelier finally joined them for a moment. Cleveland took a bite of her burger, chewing it a few times before swallowing and wiping her mouth with her arm.

“Anyway, you wanted to know what happened yesterday, right? So here’s what happened...”

The Union cruiser quickly explained to her sisters how a meteor had hit the far side of the island, prompting Enterprise to bring her along to investigate it. The three sisters felt amazed and a bit envious of her chance to team up with the Grey Ghost, the most powerful carrier of the Eagle Union. Cleveland then told them how they also met two battlecruisers from the Royal Navy named Renown and Repulse on their way. When she described how different their personalities were, they couldn’t help but laugh.

“This Renown sounds like a gallant knight from a fantasy book.” Denver said in-between her laughs. “Repulse sounds like a fun girl. Maybe we should meet them sometime.”

“Maybe next time, sis. Anyway, back to the story…”

Cleveland continued with how their investigation had led them to a giant crater. Inside the crater, what they thought to be a meteorite turned out to be a humongous white and black iron giant they had never seen before. At first, Denver, Columbia, and even Montpelier were a bit skeptical if such things could even exist, but Cleveland simply told them to go see it with their own eyes as the iron giant was still lying there. Montpelier then wondered if the iron giant was possibly created by the Ironblood considering their technological advancements, but Cleveland dismissed such a theory, saying that it lacked any of their traits.

But when the Union cruiser mentioned that the pilot of the iron giant was a male human, the three leaned towards Cleveland much to the latter’s surprise and slight discomfort at their reactions.

“A-a man you said?” Denver stammered, blushing slightly. “Hey, did you get a good look at he- I mean him?”

“Well, yeah somewhat, but...”

“Did he do anything to you, sis?” Montpelier suddenly raised her voice and cracked her knuckles. “He didn’t touch you in weird places, did he?”

“What!? No, Monty! He was unconscious when we found him. More importantly, where or when did you learn something like that?!”

“And where is he now?” asked Columbia after she popped her bubblegum.

“Renown and Repulse took him to the Royal Navy building because we don’t have any rooms available in our dorm to treat him.” answered Cleveland. “Now can I eat my lunch? You’re scaring me.”

“Sorry, sis.” came the collective replies from the three sisters as they sat back down. Cleveland let out a relieved sigh and continued eating her food. Deep in her mind, the blonde cruiser wondered if the mysterious man had awoken yet.

* * *

_Royal Navy Mansion – Living Room Area_

Inside the spacey, extravagant room filled with luxurious furniture and objects befitting royalty and nobles alike, three female figures, two women and a maid, were having tea time at the round table near the window which gave them all a view of the balcony area and the sea beyond.

The first woman had short blonde hair with ring braids and red eyes. She wore a red and white aristocrat suit, a half red cape over her right shoulder, and a pair of white silk gloves. She also wore a black miniskirt and white thigh-high red heeled boots. Strapped on her belt was a rapier in a leather scabbard.

The second woman had long white hair stylized into twin tails and blue eyes and a mole under her left eye. Her attire was best to be described as ‘lady in white’ that consisted of white hat, white Victorian long dress, white long gloves, white thigh-high stockings and black heels. But what stood out most on her was a pair of large breasts that were somehow prevented from slipping free of her dress.

These women were HMS Prince of Wales and Illustrious, the Royal Navy battleship of the King George V class and an aircraft carrier of the latter’s namesake.

Illustrious looked at her cup as it was being filled with tea from a classy teapot by a maid. This maid had long dark brown hair, blue eyes, and wore a maid uniform similar to Curlew, but instead of heels, she wore a pair of brown leather boots.

Her name? HMS Curacoa.

Once Curacoa was done pouring the tea, the carrier gave her a thankful smile and turned to Wales.

“Do you think our guest is awake yet?” Illustrious asked first.

“I have sent Curlew to fetch him.” The blonde battleship replied after taking a sip of her tea. “She should be back soon.”

“It’s been a while since we had humans in our base.” The busty carrier wondered before she placed her finger under her chin. “But what do you plan to do with him, Wales?”

Wales’ face turned a bit serious at her question. “He crash-landed inside his white iron giant. It’s obvious that he’s not an ordinary person. I’ll have to know his intentions before judging whether he poses a threat or not.”

“I sure hope it won’t be the latter.” Illustrious closed her eyes and placed her hand on her chest. “Enough unnecessary fights have happened...”

**_*KNOCK-KNOCK*_ **

The three Royal ships turned to the door as Illustrious gave the person outside permission to enter. “Please come in.”

With a low creaking sound, the door opened and Curlew walked inside before bowing to the room’s occupants.

“Madam Wales, Madam Illustrious. I have brought your guest here.” reported the maid.

“Thank you, Curlew.” Wales replied with a nod. “You may leave us.”

“Then I shall return to my duty.” Curlew bowed again before leaving. “Have a good day, ma’am.”

After the maid left the room, another person came in: A male human who appeared to be in his thirties and had short, semi-curly brown hair and eyes. Both Wales and Illustrious eyed their guest with interest as he walked towards their table.

Whether it was from having not seen a man for a long time since they left the base in the shipgirls’ care or because of his appearance, Wales had to admit that the man was quite handsome, especially in the navy shirt that once belonged to their last human commander.

* * *

When Amuro entered the room, the Gundam pilot was greeted by the sight of two noblewomen having tea at a round table and a maid nearby. There was an empty chair and the woman in white waved at him, inviting the White Devil to join them.

If it wasn’t because of his self-discipline and respect for a woman’s privacy, Amuro would’ve been caught gazing at the woman’s cleavage for a few good seconds, wondering how they could even fit in that dress.

This whole atmosphere honestly felt too welcoming to his liking. His Newtype senses didn’t detect any ill intention from either woman. However, he could sense wariness concealed behind the blonde woman’s calm gaze.

_‘Let’s see how this will turn out.’_ The White Devil mentally prepared himself as he sat down across from the blonde woman in red.

“I’m so glad you could join us in this wonderful tea time, good sir.” The busty woman in white gently smiled as she handed Amuro a cup of tea. “Here, have a cup.”

Amuro looked at his tea, feeling a bit hesitant to take it. He looked back at the woman in red who still looked calm, waiting for him to drink his tea, while the woman in white looked slightly dejected at his silence.

He finally took his cup and took a sip. The tea had a nice relaxing aroma and it didn’t feel hot or too bitter.

“So, how’s the tea?” The noblewoman in white asked as Amuro placed his cup back on the table.

“It’s good.” He answered, giving the busty woman a nod. “Thank you.”

“Why of course.” The blonde woman replied with a prideful smile. “This tea is the finest from the homeland. Its quality is second to none.”

A few seconds of silence passed between them before Amuro finally spoke again, wanting to get some answers to his current situation. Hopefully he wouldn’t offend them in some way with his tone since he wasn’t used to interacting with high-class people.

“Pardon me if I’m being too bold, ma’am.” Amuro tried to be as polite as he could in front of two women. “But I don’t think I was invited here just to join your afternoon tea time. Am I right?”

“You’re correct, sir.” The blonde woman nodded at him. “We have many questions for you since you have caused quite a commotion yesterday. But as per our tradition in the Royal Navy, we will treat our guests like our family.”

_Royal Navy? Am I in England then? But weren’t they already disbanded following the formation of the EFNF?’_ Amuro’s thought was cut short when the woman in white spoke next.

“But first of all, I think introductions come first.” The woman then introduced herself, the blonde woman, and the maid. “My name is Illustrious. This is Prince Wales and this maid’s name is Curacoa. And you have met her sister Curlew.”

“I can introduce myself, Illustrious.” Wales told Illustrious, letting out a chuckle before turning to Amuro. “So, what’s your name, sir?”

“It’s Amuro Ray, ma’am.” The Gundam pilot finally introduced himself. “I’m grateful for your hospitality, Miss Wales, Miss Illustrious. But, what will happen to me now?”

“Normally we would let you go after we sorted everything out.” Wales’ expression then turned serious. “But seeing as we’re at war here, I’m afraid you will have to stay a bit longer before we can let you leave. It may sound like you are being held prisoner here, but I hope you can understand our situation, Sir Ray.”

“A war?” Amuro cocked his eyebrow, looking at Prince of Wales with a questioning look. “What war? I thought the Federation had agreed to make a truce with Zeon forces.”

“Sir Ray, I don’t know what you are talking about.” The blonde woman frowned. “We’ve always been at war with the Sirens who have caused so much destruction on this world, claiming countless innocent lives ever since their first emergence. And as if things weren’t bad enough, our former allies betrayed us and chose to side with the Sirens, declaring themselves as the Crimson Axis.”

“Sirens? Crimson Axis?” Amuro grew even more confused and frustrated at the names he didn’t know about. “I’ve never heard of them before. What are they and what is happening here?”

“Oh dear...” Illustrious cast a worried look at the Gundam pilot before turning to Wales. “It looks like we have to explain all of this from the beginning first, Wales.”

* * *

_Outskirts of Azur Lane – Hillside Forest_

Back at the crash site where the Nu Gundam was still present, three shipgirls stood a few good meters away from the inactive Mobile Suit.

They were Javelin and Laffey. Unlike yesterday night when they were in their pajamas, the two destroyers now wore different outfits.

Javelin now sported a white blouse with blue suspenders and yellow buttons, a blue and red miniskirt with a checkered pattern and a pair of black socks under her blue boots. Her hair now sported a mini crown accessory and around her neck was a blue hoodie with animal ears. She also wore a white glove on her right hand and a clear blue circlet on her left.

Laffey wore a white and blue tank top and red miniskirt under her long sleeved, bunny motif pink open jacket which hung loose off her left shoulder. On her hair between her fake bunny ears was a red hairband. She also wore a pair of thigh-high boots.

Accompanying them was another Royal Navy shipgirl. She was a little bit shorter than Javelin and Laffey and had long purple hair with black ribbons on her left side tail and purple eyes. For her attire, she wore a white long dress with a flower motif and six black ribbons on each side, a pair of white long gloves, along with thigh-high socks and shoes. Overall her appearance was almost similar to Illustrious that one could mistake them as siblings. But what caught one’s attention most was the small Unicorn creature which looked like a plush in her arms.

Despite her small stature, this girl was actually one of the Royal Navy’s light aircraft carriers: the HMS Unicorn.

“Whoaaa.... It’s so big...” marveled Javelin. The destroyer literally had stars in her eyes.

Laffey nodded in agreement before the Union destroyer suddenly pulled out a bottle of cola and drank it.

Unicorn on the other hand looked a bit nervous and scared at the sight of the 22 meter tall metal giant lying in front of them. Her experience of being almost eaten by Kaga’s monster fox during the raid didn’t help much.

“Is it... dangerous?” The Royal carrier meekly asked. “What if it awakes... and gets mad at us?”

“It’s okay, Unicorn. This iron giant is harmless.” to prove her point, Javelin began climbing up on its feet. “See?”

A small smile formed on the young light carrier’s lips as she looked at the destroyer who was extending her hand. However just as she was about to reach for it...

**_*BURP!*_ **

“Hya!?” Unicorn suddenly stumbled in shock from the loud burping noise. Turning around, she saw Laffey who had just finished drinking her cola.

“Sorry...” The bunny-eared destroyer apologized.

The three shipgirls began exploring/playing around the Nu Gundam’s body frame. Laffey was having a one-sided staring contest with Nu Gundam’s green eye sensors while Unicorn sat down on the Mobile Suit’s left shoulder, enjoying the view of the sea across the cliff. In the meantime Javelin was examining a small dark room with a seat located in the chest.

Curiosity kicked in and Javelin suddenly threw herself into the seat, rocking it slightly before the destroyer leaned back with a satisfied look on her face.

“Aaahhh... this seat is so comfy~” The Royal destroyer then jerked forward, looking at the line of buttons installed on the armrests.

“So many buttons here... I wonder what they do.”

Too curious to think of the possible consequences, Javelin pointed her finger at one random button. She wanted to press it and see what would happen, something that would’ve occurred if Laffey hadn’t suddenly appeared from outside.

“Javelin... what are you doing?” The destroyer asked before entering Nu Gundam’s cockpit. “Laffey thinks... maybe you shouldn’t touch that...”

“I-I’m just curious, Laffey..!!” Javelin tried to defend herself. “Besides, what’s the harm? It’s just one button.”

“Hmmm....” Laffey nodded, looking at the button Javelin was about to press and then back at her. “Just one, alright...”

Little did they knew that there was a phrase saying that “curiosity killed the cat” ...or in this case, curiosity would bite them back...


	3. Universal Century No More

_Royal Navy Mansion – Living Room Area_

The Royal battleship and carrier were poised to give the Gundam pilot an extensive history lesson on the state of the world while the maid prepared some snacks for them. But before they began, Illustrious asked Curacoa to take out one of the albums on the bookshelf which contained pictures and illustrations so they could explain things with more clarity. Amuro noticed how the pictures’ quality looked quite old, as if they were taken using old vintage photography as he read the title of the first page: “The First Invasion”

“When the Sirens appeared in the seas, they launched a massive attack across the world.” Wales explained with a grim look. “As a result, over a billion lives were lost. We didn’t know the exact numbers at the time, but it was estimated that more than half of the world’s population had perished from the enemy’s overwhelming assault.”

Many pictures depicting the destruction of the cities caused by the Sirens’ attack were scattered across the pages. Some of them even had the mangled bodies of the victims partially buried in ruins. Even worse, many of the bodies were missing limbs. Amuro was no stranger to collateral damage and civilian casualties in war, but seeing these pictures still gave the Gundam pilot a feeling of dread. It reminded him of the ruined city of New York during the One Year War. The slaughter of the Sirens’ initial blitzkrieg rivaled the death toll reaped by Zeon prior to the stalemate.

However, he noticed something missing from these photos: where were the pictures of the Sirens?

“Miss Wales, how come there aren't any pictures of these Sirens you’re talking about?” He pointed out.

The blonde woman gave him a deadpanned look. “Sir Ray, do you really think anyone would be brave enough to stand next to a fully armed alien that can kill you in seconds just for the sake of taking their photos?”

_'Alien?! What is she talking about?’_ Amuro thought incredulously. _‘And surely they could’ve just sent out drones or UAVs to take their pictures from a safe distance.’_

Deciding to save the question for later, he flipped to another page. This one was titled: “The New Hope” with only two pictures: Two scientists carrying a metal container and the second one was a glowing cube-like object inside the container.

Curious, Amuro pointed at the cube. “What is this thing?”

Wales leaned forward a bit to look where he was pointing at. “That’s a Wisdom Cube, Sir Ray. It’s the key for humanity to fight back in this war against the Sirens.”

“Wisdom Cube...” He looked at the picture again, wondering what made it so important. “What does it do?”

Both Prince of Wales and Illustrious smirked a bit before the latter answered him.

Illustrious giggled. “You will find the answer on the next page, Sir Ray.”

Amuro raised an eyebrow as he flipped to the next page titled “Project KANSEN”. The page had many pictures of women, young and mature standing alongside the sailors. However, what caught Amuro’s attention were the strange contraptions -which looked like an exoskeleton with cannons and armor plates- attached to those women.

“Project KANSEN? What is it?” Amuro wondered aloud before he pointed at one of the pictures. “And who are those women with cannons on their backs? They look like some kind of combat gear.”

A small smirk crept onto Wales’ face as she answered him. “KANSEN was a research project which involved the use of Wisdom Cubes in the hope of creating weapons able to drive back the Sirens. It’s short for **K** inetics **A** rtifactual **N** avy **S** elf-regulative **E** n-lore **N** ode. And those women, Sir Ray, were the first generation KANSENs also known as shipgirls.”

For a few good seconds, Amuro’s mind tried to process what the woman had just said. Not because of how ridiculous the acronym sounded but the last part she mentioned. Did he hear that right? Shipgirl? The White Devil then looked back at the Wisdom Cube’s picture and tried to connect what Illustrious had just told him to it.

Needless to say, Amuro wasn’t amused at all as he put down the album, crossed his arms and gave both women an incredulous look.

“Ma’am, if this is some kind of prank you usually pull on your guests, then I don’t find it funny at all.”

“Oh, but it’s true, good sir.” Wales’ playful smirk didn’t leave her face which only irritated the Gundam pilot more. “We shipgirls are the warships given human form through the power of Wisdom Cubes.”

Amuro cocked his eyebrow again after noticing what she just implied. “We?”

“That’s right, Sir Ray.” Illustrious replied and nodded. “Everyone here, including the maids, are shipgirls.”

The Gundam pilot of course didn’t buy any of that and was ready to leave, having enough of this nonsense they were sprouting. An alien invasion? A secret project in the forms of women with warship gear? That was it! He must’ve ended up in some sort of rehabilitation house and these women were actually mentally ill to believe that they were warships in human form while these Sirens and Crimson Axis were actually nothing more than independent warlords, private mercenary groups, or maybe even Zeon remnants.

But before he could do so, a new voice joined their conversation. It was none other than the maid, Curacoa, who had been silent all this time.

“Lady Wales, if I may suggest something.” The Royal battleship turned to her. “Perhaps a little demonstration would help to change Master Amuro’s mind? I think it’s pretty obvious that he doesn’t believe anything you and Lady Illustrious said.”

Wales actually wanted to tease Amuro a bit more after seeing how his reaction was pretty similar to their first commander when he was first assigned at this base. She still remembered how upset he was after finding out that their only hope to save the world was the shipgirls, thinking that it was some kind of sick joke played on him until he finally accepted and got used to it.

However, the maid had made a valid point. Besides, she still didn’t know yet what their guest’s intentions were and what his iron giant was.

“Yes, that would be a good idea.” The woman rubbed her chin with her finger. “Isn’t your ship at the dock right outside the balcony? Why don’t you show our guest here, dear?”

“As you wish, ma’am.” with a smile, Curacoa bowed and approached Amuro. “Master Amuro, could you please follow me for a moment?”

Honestly, Amuro still felt skeptical but he decided to humor her for now so he could leave this place as soon as possible. There was still so much to do like informing the Londo Bell unit that he was still alive or finding out where he actually was. Reluctantly, he stood up from his chair and followed Curacoa to the balcony while Wales and Illustrious watched in anticipation and mild amusement.

Wales couldn't help but chuckle. “This should be interesting.”

Illustrious took another sip from her tea before she turned to the blonde battleship. “You seem to be enjoying this, Wales. Weren’t you aware of Sir Ray before he came here?”

“I can’t help it after seeing his reaction.” She replied; her expression suddenly turned somber. “It somehow reminds me of the Commander when we met him for the first time...”

“I see...” At the mention of their deceased leader, Illustrious also shared the same look as Wales. “I wonder how long it has been since we had a commander... Back then, everyone was still together...”

* * *

Low footsteps on the marble tiles echoed throughout the area as Amuro followed Curacoa who was leading him to the balcony. Once they were outside, a warm breeze, seagulls, and the sound of seawater pounding from below greeted them. Amuro’s eyes went wide in amazement at the view he was seeing as he approached the marble railing and leaned forward.

“Whoa...”

Far ahead below them was a dockyard full of warships in various shapes and sizes. Aside from the conventional old sea warships, he also spotted a few carriers there, something which the Earth Federation Marine Forces still used even in UC 0093. Amuro had to admit that despite being very outdated and obsolete since the introduction of amphibious space warships, the sight of the humongous steel behemoths armed with turret guns was awe-inspiring.

But his moment of enjoyment faded when he suddenly realized something

_‘Wait a minute! How could they harbor so many ships here? There’s no way this place is a rehabilitation house! It’s more like a naval base!’_

“Master Amuro, please look over here.” The maid’s voice grabbed Amuro's attention as he turned to Curacoa who was standing a few meters away from him. “As per Lady Wales’ order, I shall bring forth my rigging to prove you that we shipgirls are real.”

“Rigging? What are you-!?”

Before Amuro could finish speaking, one of the docked warships suddenly glowed bright blue which caught his attention. When he turned around, said warship -a light cruiser to be more precise- had blue lines in a square pattern begin to appear along its hull until they covered its entire structure.

“What...!?”

In a flash of light, the ship disappeared into numerous small blue energy cubes. The cubes, as if they were alive, launched themselves to where Curacoa was standing.

“Hey! Look out!” Amuro tried to warn the maid.

However, Curacoa didn’t look worried. Instead, she looked pretty calm and relaxed, even spreading out her arms as if she was inviting those cubes to come. The Gundam pilot was about to push the maid away from getting hit by the approaching cubes, but he stopped when he saw those cubes, instead of hitting the maid, attached themselves on her back.

The cubes then rearranged themselves, forming the shape of an appendage with multiple limbs. Then in another flash, the cubes dissipated, revealing a mechanical harness similar to those worn by the women he saw in the album. It had three metal limbs –each equipped with twin gun turrets- and a hull-shaped medium sized shield on the left side.

“Light Cruiser HMS Curacoa, ready at your service, master.” The maid reintroduced herself and gave the man a curtsey with a gentle smile on her face.

However, the White Devil was speechless. Right before his eyes, he had just witnessed how a naval vessel with a tonnage in thousands of tons turn into some sort of battle gear referred to as rigging.

_‘Just... just what kind of place did I wake up in? And how come EFSF Intelligence didn’t know about any of this?!’_ He frantically thought.

“Is this enough to convince you, Master Amuro?” Curacoa’s voice brought the Newtype back into reality. “Or should I fire my guns somewhere empty to convince you further?”

The maid then shifted her rigging and her gun turrets around as if showing her guest how her new equipment worked. “Of course I will use practice rounds for this.”

“...Yes please.” was Amuro’s answer as he nodded.

Honestly that answer actually came out of nowhere and he didn’t even know why he said such a thing. Perhaps a small part of him still didn’t want to believe the whole shipgirl thing even after what he had just witnessed?

With another bow the maid turned around, aimed her ship guns upwards, and fired.

**_*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*_ **

The Gundam pilot had to shield his ears from the loud firing noise followed by the muzzle flash coming from the maid's weaponry. Smoke rose from the tip of the barrels after Curacoa was done and Amuro could smell the gunpowder from them.

It was real, that warship had really turned into some kind of combat gear which fused with the maid and it was even fully functional. The shipgirl was real...

Being a man of science and gifted in mechanics, what he just saw truly defied every aspect of science he believed in. Not even the psycoframe technology, which he still didn’t fully understand, was as bizarre as this. It was like magic, almost as if it wasn’t from this world...

Magic...

This... world...

A single bead of sweat trickled down Amuro’s cheek as he recalled the events that had transpired around him ever since he woke up.

Somehow by the miracle or the psycoframe’s doing, he had survived the fall that should’ve killed him. Then he woke up in an unfamiliar location. Then those two women, Illustrious and Prince of Wales, told him that they were at war with factions he didn’t know existed: The Sirens, an army of supposedly malevolent alien beings, and their former allies, the Crimson Axis. Yet they had no idea of what the Federation and Zeon were.

At first, he thought they were living in their own fantasies until this maid proved how wrong he was. This deliberation brought Amuro to the only one possible explanation of what could’ve happened to him. One which even he found hard to believe...

He wasn’t in the Universal Century anymore...

_‘No...!! That’s impossible, right? I don’t know the full extent of the psycoframe’s power yet, but is it really capable of doing that?!’_

“Master Amuro. Are you okay?” Curacoa’s voice once again made Amuro return to reality.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t realize he was still staring at the maid who tilted her head and looked worried. But if he wanted to be honest, Amuro was freaking out internally. There was just no way the overloaded psycoframe was capable of taking him to another world. Yet, as much as he wanted to believe that, everything he had seen so far had told him otherwise.

“Yeah... I’m okay.” Amuro tried to be as calm as possible before letting out a sigh as he pointed at Curacoa’s rigging. “Just a bit overwhelmed after seeing... that.”

Understanding the man’s reaction, the maid nodded and then reverted her rigging back into the cubes. Amuro’s eyes followed them as the cubes went back to the dockyard and turned back into their massive warship form. Once again, the gears in his brain were spinning, trying to figure out how it was possible.

“Then I shall escort you back inside. Please follow me.”

“Right...” The White Devil nodded and followed the maid back inside, but not before casting a final glance at the docked ships.

_‘That ship is even smaller compared to the rest. Does that mean they also can turn into rigging? Just what are the shipgirls actually?’_

* * *

When Amuro and Curacoa returned to their table, both Prince of Wales and Illustrious were enjoying their tea. The Gundam pilot sat back down and the maid resumed her position at two Royal women’s side. Despite the calm and dignified looks on their faces, it didn’t take a genius to tell that they were hiding their victorious smirks behind their raised teacups.

Wales gently put her teacup down and looked Amuro in the eyes. “So... Do you still think it’s a prank, Sir Ray?”

“I can’t believe what I just saw... but you’re right.” He finally admitted, rubbing his temples in both disbelief and frustration. Curacoa noticed how his cup was already empty and swiftly refilled it.

The Newtype took another sip. Once again the warmth and relaxing aroma of the tea seemed to calm him down. However it didn’t change the fact that the White Devil was now stranded in a completely unknown place with no hope to contacting Londo Bell or any nearby Federation bases since they didn’t exist. But if his guess about him being in another dimension due to the psycoframe was right...

Which unfortunately it was...

Illustrious noticed how their guest looked distressed. “Is everything okay, Sir Ray?”

“Oh? Yeah. I just have something on my mind. Not a big deal.” Noticing how the busty woman didn’t seem convinced, Amuro had to find a way to change the subject immediately and he found one after taking a quick glance at Curacoa.

“That maid, Curlew.” He began. “She told me on my way here that this location’s name is Azur Lane. Just what is this place?”

Instead of verbally answering him, the blonde battleship took the album on the table and flipped some pages before turning it around to show it to him. Unlike the rest of them, it only had a single large photo which took up the entire page.

“After we born into this world, we managed to drive back the Sirens and reclaim our seas.” explained Wales. “However, before that point Sirens had taken control most of the seas in the world, so the world’s major navies decided to form an organization dedicated to fighting them. Azur Lane is the name of that organization, Sir Ray.”

Amuro looked at the title named ‘Birth of Azur Lane’. The photo showed a group of military leaders from different countries together with their respective shipgirls holding what appeared to be their national flags in front of a large hexagonal shaped object with the silhouettes of an anchor and planes.

Those flags they were holding were also... pretty unique. One was an eagle carrying an anchor over a shield, another featured a lion with a crown on its head, the third depicted the five petals of cherry blossoms, and the last one was a stylized Iron Cross which somehow reminded Amuro of the Principality of Zeon’s flag.

...Wait. Were those horns on that shipgirl’s head?

“That time there were only four of us: the Eagle Union, Royal Navy, Sakura Empire, and Iron Blood.” Wales continued explaining. “But as time passed, more countries joined under our banner to strengthen their navies and protect themselves from the Sirens. As our organization grew bigger, we finally took back the seas that were once controlled by the Sirens.”

The atmosphere in the room suddenly dropped after Wales finished talking. Even though the women and the maid did their best to conceal their sadness, Amuro could still feel it emanating from them. Then he remembered what Prince of Wales told him about having their former allies defect to the enemy’s side and wondered if this had something to do with it.

But before he could ask what had happened, the blonde battleship closed the album.

“I think that’s enough history lessons for now, Sir Ray.” As she handed the album to the maid, Wales stared at him with the look that someone gave when interrogating a person. “We have told you our story, now I think it’s our turn to hear yours.”

“You came here, crash-landing inside the iron giant of yours, something which we’ve never seen in our life, from the sky no less.” She spoke again. “And while your accent sounds like someone from the Eagle Union, my intuition tells me that you’re not from there, are you? Who are you actually, Sir Amuro Ray?”

Amuro mentally cursed. He knew that he couldn’t lie this way out of this one. He had accidentally blown his chance when he asked what the Sirens were earlier. Had he known the entire situation beforehand, maybe he could tell them that he was a test pilot for a new weapon created by the Eagle Union so that humans could fight Sirens on equal grounds.

He briefly turned to the door where he had come from and found Curacoa now standing there. It was obvious they wouldn’t let him leave before he told them his own history. Amuro wasn’t unfamiliar with female fighters/combatants dressed as civilians and he could tell Curacoa was one such individual. After all, when he was put under house arrest by the government, he had lived with maids/butlers who were actually Federation agents.

“Please, Sir Ray. We just want to help you.” Illustrious looked at Amuro with pleading eyes.

However, so far these women were welcoming and hadn’t shown any hostility towards him. If he really was an otherworlder here, then it was understandable that Prince of Wales was wary of him now. Maybe he’d give them the benefit of the doubt.

Crossing his arms, the White Devil heaved a low sigh. “You’re not wrong, Miss Wales. I’m not from around here.”

“Then where are you from, Sir Ray?” Illustrious asked.

Amuro opened his eyes and turned to her. “A place very far away, Miss Illustrious. Maybe... you’ll find it hard to believe like how I didn’t believe shipgirls were real until mere minutes ago.”

“That’s... interesting indeed.” The blonde battleship rubbed her chin. “And what kind of place created an iron giant like that?”

“Mobile Suit.” He corrected. “It’s called a Mobile Suit, ma’am. They’re... you could say quite common where I came from.”

“Right... Mobile Suit.” She nodded. “So-”

**_*KNOCK!-KNOCK!*_ **

Wales was interrupted by the sound of a glass window being knocked on. When everyone turned to the balcony where Curacoa showed Amuro her shipgirl riggings, they saw a young girl in a white dress and a white winged unicorn with a purple mane matching the girl’s hair.

“Isn’t that Unicorn?” Wales arched her eyebrow and turned to Illustrious. “Wasn’t she supposed to be with Javelin and her friend?”

“She looks very troubled. I wonder if something happened.” The woman in white rose from her seat. “I’ll go get her.”

Illustrious walked over to the glass door to open it since it was locked from inside as another means of securing the room earlier. However Amuro’s eyes were fixated on the horse-like creature with a pair of wings and a single horn on its head.

_‘Are my eyes deceiving me or is that a real winged unicorn!?’_ He thought, massaging his eyelids for a moment. _‘I’m definitely not in the Universal Century anymore...’_

**_*CLICK! – CREAK...*_ **

“BIG SISTER!”

As soon as Illustrious opened the door, the young girl suddenly rushed to the taller woman and hugged Illustrious tightly. Despite being a completely different class of ship, both Illustrious and Unicorn held a connection more like siblings. Their sisterly bond was perhaps even closer than Illustrious to her own sister class ships.

“What’s wrong Unicorn?” The white-haired carrier crouched down before hugging the sobbing Unicorn’s back to console the girl. “There... there... I’m here.”

Once Unicorn finally calmed down a little, she looked up from Illustrious’ dress which was now slightly soaked from her tears, still teary eyed.

“Big sis... Please, you have to help them! It’s... It’s moving!”

“Calm down, Unicorn.” Illustrious was confused with her plea as she stroked Unicorn’s hair. “What’s moving?”

“The iron giant!” The light carrier exclaimed and pointed her finger towards the forest outside. “It suddenly stood up and started moving around! Javelin and Laffey are trapped inside!”


	4. Gundam Rising (Again)

_Royal Navy Mansion – Living Room Area_

After Unicorn had told her story, all eyes, save for the little light carrier, now turned towards the lone male occupant of the room and waited for an explanation.

However, Amuro himself was surprised to hear from the girl how the iron giant or his Mobile Suit, the Nu Gundam, could even still move after burning up in the atmosphere. Moreover, to prevent it from getting hijacked either by the enemy or any other unwanted individual, face recognition systems were installed on Mobile Suit’s OS. Even if someone else entered the cockpit, if the person wasn’t an authorized Federation pilot, he or she wouldn’t be able to even boot up the OS.

So, how on earth could the Nu Gundam be operational right now?

The Gundam pilot then stood up from his chair and walked over towards Unicorn, wanting to ask more. However as soon as the young light carrier saw the man coming, she suddenly hid herself behind Illustrious. The Royal maid was ready to intervene in case the man wanted to harm the girl but a raised hand from Prince of Wales signaled for Curacoa to stay where she was.

“Wait! Don’t be scared.” He tried to reassure her. “I just want to ask something about my Gu- I mean the iron giant.”

Unicorn however didn’t respond and only grabbed Illustrious’ skirt tighter. The Royal carrier then turned to him, offering an apologetic look.

“I’m really sorry for this, Sir Ray. Unicorn is... rather shy around new people.” The busty woman then turned again to Unicorn. “Unicorn... Hey, Unicorn, look at me, please?”

Reluctantly the girl slowly looked up from Illustrious’ dress to her face. Her face was still teary-eyed. “Y-yes, big sis?”

Illustrious then stood up and turned aside, allowing Unicorn to see Amuro’s full figure again, but then at the sight of the taller man which she found imposing, she immediately grabbed her superior’s skirt again out of her fear of strangers. Heaving a low sigh, Illustrious placed her hand on Unicorn’s shoulder and introduced the Gundam pilot to her.

“Unicorn, this big brother here is Mister Amuro Ray.” She pointed at the brunette man who tried to be friendly to the young girl by smiling a bit and waving his hand. “He can help us stop the iron giant. But you must be brave and tell him the full story, okay?”

Unicorn looked at her ‘sister’ for a moment and then at Amuro before shifting to Illustrious again who gave an encouraging nod.

The Royal light carrier nodded back and steeled herself, however when Unicorn turned to face Amuro, she felt nervous again as she approached the taller man who then knelt on one knee to her level.

“Can you... can you really stop the iron giant and save my friends, mister?” She meekly asked.

At the same time, the winged unicorn she rode earlier walked to her side. But instead of a fully grown white horse, the unicorn creature now had shrunk down to the size of a puppy and its appearance now looked like a plushie instead of a mythical creature.

Ignoring how the large animal could even shrink to that size on its own, Amuro gave the younger girl a firm nod.

“Yes. But first, could you tell me what happened?”

The unicorn plush jumped into Unicorn’s lap as she told the White Devil her full story from the beginning. At first, she had only tagged along with Javelin and her friend Laffey because she wanted to see the rumored iron giant that fell from the sky. Then Javelin, thinking that it was harmless, invited them to climb onto it.

Problems began to arise after Javelin and Laffey entered the open chest cavity. When the light carrier was sitting on the iron giant’s white shoulder, the metal colossus suddenly jerked upright, throwing Unicorn off the shoulder, and its eyes glowed green. If it wasn’t because of Yuni’s -her unicorn plush- immediate action to rescue her, she would’ve hit the ground.

The Royal light carrier could only watch in horror from the back of her unicorn as the iron giant closed its chest, trapping both Javelin and Laffey inside, then slowly stood up. Fearing she wouldn’t be able to stop it alone, she fled all the way back to the Royal Mansion to ask for help, thus bringing her to the current situation.

_‘So one of them must have been playing around with the buttons and accidentally reactivated it.’_ Amuro lowered his head in thought. _‘But how was that possible? The face recognition system should’ve rejected their inputs... unless it got corrupted after the crash?’_

“Hey, Unicorn, right?” He looked back at Unicorn who nodded in reply. “Where was the last time you saw my Mobile Suit before you came here?”

The younger girl was confused for a brief moment at what the man said until she immediately caught on to what he was referring to. Holding the small Yuni in her lap, Unicorn turned around and pointed her finger towards the forest on the hillside. “Over there.”

With another nod, the White Devil stood and turned to Prince of Wales. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I have to stop my Mobile Suit first. Is there any vehicle I could borrow for a moment?”

“I’ve called London to prepare the car, Sir Ray.” replied the Royal battleship who then crossed her arms. “However, since you’re still a guest here, I’ve asked someone to accompany you in case ‘unwanted’ things could happen. Is that acceptable?”

“Yeah. That’s fair enough.” Amuro nodded in agreement.

Even though he had spent enough time having a conversation with these women, he was still a stranger to them, so it was understandable if Prince of Wales still didn’t fully trust him yet and feared if he would use this moment to escape.

But it wasn’t like he had anywhere to go anyway...

“Um... Sir Ray.” Another voice called him and Amuro turned to the worried Illustrious. “This iron giant... I mean Mobile Suit of yours. Will it endanger anyone nearby?”

“Most of its weapons have been discarded and the propulsion unit was already broken before I crashed here.” He explained. “It should be capable of nothing more than walking. Still doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous, though.”

What he said was true on some levels. Despite having been completely stripped of its armaments, the Nu Gundam itself was still a 22 meter tall machine made of Gundarium Alloy and -as demonstrated from his last battle with Char and his Mobile Suit- powerful enough to take down another Mobile Suit of comparable power in a fistfight.

And right now it was wandering around this place in the hands of two children like Unicorn...

“Then we should waste no more time by staying here.” Wales swiftly turned to the Royal maid. “Curacoa, can you escort Sir Ray to the garage?”

“As you wish, ma’am.” The maid replied and bowed before turning to Amuro. “Master Amuro, please follow me.”

With another nod, Amuro followed Curacoa and walked out of the room. After both the Royal cruiser and Gundam pilot left, Prince of Wales turned to Illustrious.

“Illustrious, can you deploy your scouting plane from here?” asked the battleship.

“Yes.” Illustrious answered with a nod. “Is there anything I can do to help, Wales?”

“I want you to find this Mobile Suit of Sir Ray’s.” explained Prince of Wales. “We have to distract it from entering any populated areas as long as possible. A walking iron giant in a crowded area without doubt would cause chaos. We can’t let that happen while most of this base is still under repair.”

* * *

_Azur Lane – Shopping District_

The shopping district was one of the major areas of the Azur Lane facility which was always full of activity. In this place, merchants (or to be more precise, the shipgirls) from the allied countries came to in order to acquire or sell goods, thus indirectly making it some sort of international trading hub. To make it easier for foreign trading ships to come, the shopping district was located near the port.

Currently Cleveland was taking a stroll through the area. Both her hands rested behind her head as she kept walking on the paved road, passing by other shipgirls who either were shopping or just browsing. The Union cruiser sometimes glanced at the stalls on her left and right to see if there was anything that might catch her interest.

And she found one.

Standing next to the flower booth was a plushie booth. The shopkeeper shipgirl was a young girl who looked to be the same age as Cleveland. She had long blue hair with light purple shades and red eyes. Her attire consisted of a white and blue short dress, a pair of dark blue long gloves, blue thigh-highs with garter straps, and grey heels. Additionally, the girl also wore a hair accessory which looked like the SG Radar.

This girl was the youngest of the Brooklyn-class light cruisers, the USS Helena.

“Alright, here’s your stuffed bear.” Helena said as she handed the neatly wrapped brown bear plushie to a destroyer shipgirl. “Thank you for shopping here.”

“Yo, Helena!” Upon hearing the familiar voice, Helena turned around to see Cleveland sporting a wide grin on her face. “Didn’t know you had actually opened a booth here.”

“Oh, you’re mistaken, Cleveland.” The blue-haired cruiser replied dismissively and waved her hand. “I’m just helping Lou. This was her idea in the first place.”

“A plushie booth, huh? Quite impressive I must say.” The blonde cruiser looked closer at the items displayed on the wooden shelf under the stall.

The plushies had various shapes ranging from land and aquatic animals, birds, and even shipgirls to Cleveland’s amazement at the amount of effort that had been put in to make them. These plushies were handmade and yet they looked like they’d been made by a famous doll-maker company.

“Hey Lena. Did you make these all by yourself?” asked Cleveland.

“Of course not.” Helena shook her head. “Lou did most of them. Lulu and Brooklyn also helped. Phoenix also wanted to help but I guess sewing wasn’t her strong point...”

“Geez, Lena. You should give yourself some credit.” reassured Cleveland. The blonde cruiser then spotted one plushie which interested her.

“Hey, this one looks cute. I’m buying this one.”

“Of course. Let me see...” Helena suddenly froze in mid-sentence and her face turned beet-red after seeing what Cleveland was holding in her hands.

“E-EEEEHHH??”

In the blonde cruiser’s hands was a plushie that looked like a miniature version of Helena which was holding a SG Radar cushion.

A wide grin appeared on Cleveland’s face. “Hee-hee-hee. It looks like you, isn’t it?”

“T-that must be Lou’s doing!” Helena stammered, both upset and embarrassed that her sister had created such a toy without her consent. “What on earth was she thinking!?”

“Hey now. No need to be embarrassed, Lena.” Cleveland tried to calm the flustered cruiser and showed the doll to her. “I think it’s pretty cute. See?”

Helena slowly reached out her hands, taking the stuffed doll from Cleveland and examining it closely. The doll had blue hair complete with the one hair sticking out like hers, a rounded face, magenta colored eyes in upside down ‘U’ shapes, a smiling mouth and wore a simplified version of her clothes. With her hands holding the SG Radar cushion, the doll looked like it was sleeping with a bolster pillow.

Cleveland was right. Even though it was modeled after her own image (without her consent), it looked cute.

The blue-haired cruiser let out a giggle before handing the doll back to Cleveland. “Yeah... maybe you’re right.”

“See? Have more confidence in yourself.” said Cleveland. “So how much is it?”

Helena tapped her chin with her finger for a moment. Unlike the rest of them, this one didn’t have any price tag attached to it and she didn’t know how much she should price it at. Besides, she also didn’t want to give an unfair price to one of her friends. That didn’t sound right to her.

A few seconds later, a small smile appeared on Helena’s lips. “Since it doesn’t have a tag, you can take it if you want, Cleveland.”

“Huh? What?” The blonde cruiser blinked twice in disbelief. “Are you sure about this?”

“Of course.” Helena nodded. “Consider it as my gift for visiting my booth.”

“Really? Thanks Lena!” Cleveland happily thanked her. “I’ll make sure to take care of it really well just like my bonsais.”

Helena only giggled back at Cleveland’s response. While she was dependable, friendly, strong, and a fine example of a leader, Cleveland could act a bit childish sometimes when it came to free stuff. But her personality was what made her so likable by the majority of the shipgirls, Helena included.

Both shipgirls bid their farewells before Cleveland left her stall. Once the blonde Union cruiser was out of her sight, Helena was about to resume her job until a new voice spoke from behind her.

“ _(Giggle)_ Looks like someone is in a happy mood today.” said a soothing, mature voice which startled Helena.

When she turned around, she saw a taller girl who looked like an older version of herself and smiled warmly at her. She had semi-long blue hair stylized into a ponytail with a curly end and two sides tied with hair ties and a pair of magenta eyes. Her outfit was similar to Helena’s short white and blue dress; however the top chest area was cropped out which exposed her cleavage, almost rivaling Illustrious’.

This girl’s name was USS St. Louis, the 8th of the Brooklyn-class cruisers and Helena’s older sister.

“Lou? When did you get here?” asked Helena. St. Louis’ breasts jiggled as she walked closer, making the former blush.

_‘By my SG Radar... Why can’t mine be as big as hers?’_

“Not too long after Cleveland left, Helena.” answered Louis as she gave Helena a head pat. “So what did you sell to her?”

Helena suddenly felt nervous, fearing that her sister would be upset that she had given a free item to a customer. But in her own defense, that doll didn’t have a price tag as well.

“Ummm... I...” Helena looked down, playing with her finger before looking up at her sister. “I didn’t sell anything to Cleveland, Lou. She picked the plushie which didn’t have a price tag so I gave it to her for free. I... I hope you aren’t angry...”

The younger cruiser expected her sister to scold her, but instead a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around Helena’s back before she was pulled into St. Louis’ embrace. Before she knew it, Helena’s face was already buried in St. Louis’ ample bosom.

“Ahhh... my sweet little Helena...” St. Louis said as she stroked her sister’s hair with her left hand. “You’re so kind. I’m really happy to have you as my sister.”

Unfortunately for the taller blue-haired cruiser, her sisterly love hug was unintentionally asphyxiating her poor younger sister who struggled to break free, but to no avail.

“Hmpf! Hmpf! Hmmmmmpf! _(Lou! Help! I can’t breathe!)_ ”

* * *

_Azur Lane – Port Area_

At the port where the ships ready for battle were put on standby, one aircraft carrier floated mighty above the water, dwarfing the smaller cruisers, destroyers, and merchant ships docked nearby. On its flight deck, many aircraft, ranging from F4F Wildcat fighters, TBD Devastator torpedo bombers, and SBD Dauntless dive bombers were lined up, ready to take off at anytime.

Standing on the end of the flight deck over the two giant letters ‘EN’, Enterprise looked over the sea with her left hand on her hip while her right hand held her bow. The warm sea breeze gently stroked her long white hair as a group of seagulls flew over her ship.

“I thought I would find you here.” said a voice behind her. Enterprise turned around to see Cleveland with Helena’s doll in her hand.

“What are you doing here?” asked the carrier. Her tone was blunt but had no malice or anything negative directed towards the blonde Eagle cruiser. However, Cleveland still felt a bit dejected from her choice of words. It almost sounded like she didn’t want her to be here.

“Aw geez, a simple ‘hello’ won’t sink you, you know.” Cleveland grunted as she walked towards Enterprise. “You need to loosen up a bit and enjoy the day.”

The cruiser then showed the carrier the plushie she had received from Helena. “See? It’s cute, isn’t it? Do you want one too? I saw the one that looked like a bald eagle back there.”

“Cleveland, we’re warships. We don’t need those.” answered Enterprise. “And you still haven’t answered my question.”

“Oh right. I want to visit the Royal Mansion to see how our mysterious guest is doing.” Cleveland answered with a grin. “Saw your ship here and I thought that I might as well bring you along.”

“I see...” Enterprise nodded, putting her finger under her chin. The carrier pondered whether she should join Cleveland or not. On one hand, she wanted to ask questions to that mysterious man: Who he was, which faction he belonged to, and what his iron giant was. However, she couldn’t just leave the area around the base unguarded as their enemies could ambush them.

Then a huge shadow of an aircraft passed over Enterprise’s ship. Both Eagle Union ships looked up to see a grey fighter plane, a Supermarine Seafire, flying towards the far side of the island.

“That’s a plane from the Royal Navy isn’t it?” Cleveland wondered aloud. “Where is it going?”

But as their eyes followed where the plane was going until it was gone from their eyesight, Cleveland suddenly caught a glimpse of a flying rock in the distance. At first she dismissed it as nothing more than rocks falling from the cliff into the sea. But then, the blonde cruiser’s eyes went wide in horror upon finding out that the small flying rock was getting bigger, revealing itself to be a large boulder that was coming right towards them!

“ENTERPRISE! LOOK OUT!”

“Huh!?”

Before Enterprise could turn around, Cleveland suddenly tackled the taller girl down against the deck’s floor which thankfully didn’t hit her head. The Union carrier was stunned for a moment as a large boulder suddenly went past over them, ignoring the fact that one of Cleveland’s hands was touching her left breast and...

**_*CRASH!*_ **

The boulder then hit the deck, denting it slightly, and knocked a few of the nearby planes into the water before the boulder fell alongside them. After a loud **_*SPLASH!*_** followed with a spume of seawater that drenched both Cleveland and Enterprise afterwards, the two shipgirls walked over to check on what had just happened.

“What was that?! An enemy attack?” exclaimed Enterprise.

“No! That was a boulder.” Cleveland shook her head and turned around to where the boulder had come from. “But how did it come all the way from... there?”

The blonde cruiser trailed off as she and Enterprise looked at the forest where they found the man in his iron giant yesterday. A mixed feeling of realization and dread hit Cleveland when she took a guess of what could’ve thrown such a large boulder with enough force to put a dent on the ship’s structure.

Cleveland looked at Enterprise. “E-Enterprise, do you think that ‘thing’ did this?”

“There’s only one way to find out.” Without wasting any time, the Eagle Union carrier turned around and ran towards the nearby Wildcat fighter and jumped onto it. And by that, she literally jumped on the plane’s nose instead of entering the cockpit.

With her mental command, the white-haired carrier turned on the plane’s engine and aligned it with the flight deck, ready to takeoff.

“Hey wait! Are you going to just leave me here!?” Cleveland shouted.

Enterprise looked at the blonde cruiser and shouted back. “I will be fine myself. You should go and warn everyone not to enter the forest and alert any ship who can fight.”

“That’s not what I- huh?” Cleveland was cut short when she noticed blue lines in square patterns start to appear on the ship’s deck. “Oh for the love of- You could’ve at least warned me about this!”

The blonde cruiser turned around and ran, grabbing the Helena plushie on the deck floor before she jumped off the flight deck back onto the pier. As the F4F Wildcat took off, carrying Enterprise on its nose, her entire ship disappeared into small cubes and followed the shipgirl into the air. The cubes then attached themselves to Enterprise’s back and turned into her rigging and bow.

* * *

_Hillside Forest – A Few Minutes Earlier_

**_*THUMP... THUMP... THUMP...*_ **

Heavy footsteps echoed throughout the woods and the ground shook as the white Mobile Suit, the RX-93 Nu Gundam, slowly walked through the forest. Despite having been severely damaged after its last fight, the war machine could still easily knock down trees that were bigger than it by simply walking past them.

Inside its cockpit where the two destroyers were, Javelin was sweating hard. Both her hands which held the controls of the Nu Gundam were shaking as she tried to figure out how to stop the iron giant while Laffey was watching beside her. Even though the bunny destroyer still looked as sleepy as usual, she was actually as nervous as the purple-haired destroyer.

“E-Eeeeep!! H-How do I stop this?” Javelin stuttered before she turned to Laffey. “L-Laffey, what should I do?”

The Eagle destroyer then pointed her finger at the red button Javelin had pressed. “Maybe... press that button... again?”

“I did. But nothing happened!” Javelin exasperatedly exclaimed.

Laffey pointed at the set of buttons under the static center screen. “Try another button then...?”

Following the bunny destroyer’s suggestion, Javelin tried pressing another red button. However, that one only made a pop-up warning sign which said [FUEL LOW] appear on the smaller left screen much to her dismay. A yellow button only made another pop-up warning be displayed on the smaller right screen that said [WEAPON NOT FOUND].

Frustrated and frightened at the same time, Javelin finally couldn’t take it anymore and started pressing every single button she could see, hoping that one of them would stop the iron giant and let them out.

“Aaahhhh-! Which one is the right button to stop this thing?”

A single bead of sweat trickled down Laffey’s cheek as she tried to calm the panicking Javelin from potentially putting themselves in more danger.

“Javelin... Laffey thinks maybe it’s a bad idea...” Laffey tried to warn Javelin.

A low humming sound was heard and a dim light began to illuminate the cockpit, stopping Javelin from punching more buttons. Both destroyers looked around as the wall

inside the cockpit, which in reality was a set of panoramic screen panels, came to life and showed the Mobile Suit’s occupants a live feedback of what was happening outside.

“Did... did I do it?” The purple-haired destroyer blinked twice.

Her answer came in form of the Nu Gundam beginning to walk towards a large stone boulder in front of it while a yellow crosshair appeared on the panoramic screen. Javelin and Laffey could only watch in awe and horror as the white Mobile Suit started lifting the boulder half its size off from the ground and then threw it high into the air like a shot put athlete.

For a few good seconds, neither said anything until after the boulder was gone from their sight.

“Javelin... What have you done...?” Laffey finally broke the silence.

Javelin put her hands over her mouth in horror. “O-oh no! I-I hope no one gets hurt from that.”

* * *

_With Amuro and the Royal Navy_

On a white bridge that connected the Azur Lane main HQ to the other areas, a car was driving past the bridge tower. The car resembled a Ford Model T and it had a white paint job with gold ornaments. But what made it unique from other classic cars in the 1900’s was its front section which had the shape of a ship’s bow.

The car driver was a shipgirl whose appearance looked like a teenage girl. She had long brown hair with an inner light purple color and red eyes under her red frame glasses. Her clothes consisted of a white shirt and blue skirt under her open long sleeved white jacket, a pair of white gloves, blue socks, and white sneakers. If one took a closer look, the shipgirl also wore a pair of black anchor-shaped earrings.

This shipgirl was the heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy, HMS London.

Inside the backseat, Amuro was sitting with both arms crossed and he had a thoughtful expression on his face. Sitting next to him was none other than the Royal battlecruiser Repulse who had been tasked by Prince of Wales to watch over him. While the White Devil looked calm as he formulated a plan to stop his Gundam, the brown-haired shipgirl looked much more relaxed while playing with her scabbard.

“So...” Repulse said, looking at Amuro who looked back at her. “Since this is the second time we’ve met, how about some introductions? I’m Repulse, a battlecruiser of the Royal Navy.”

“Second time?” He blinked once before getting what she meant. “Wait! Were you the one who found me and my Gundam?”

“Oh, so that’s what the iron giant is called.” Repulse shook her head. “And no, there was also my sister, Renown and two shipgirls from the Eagle Union: Cleveland and Enterprise.”

“I see...” The Gundam pilot nodded before he introduced himself. “My name is Amuro Ray.”

“Amuro Ray, huh? That’s a cool name.” Repulse gave him a thumbs-up with a grin, making him feel a bit amused with the girl’s energetic attitude. The brunette battlecruiser placed her scabbard beside her and rested her head on the seat.

Amuro arched an eyebrow slightly. “You said you’re a battlecruiser. What’s that?”

“Well, to put it simply we’re battleships but with lighter displacements.” answered Repulse. “While our armor is thinner, we are faster than battleships.”

_‘Armor? What does that mean?’_ Amuro’s eyes widened at what the brunette shipgirl had just implied. “Wait, are you telling me that you-”

“Can take on cannon shells with my body? Of course!” answered the battlecruiser again before he could finish his sentence. Repulse put her hands on her hips and turned to Amuro with a proud look as if she was showing off her feminine charm. “We may have bodies of a defenseless girl that anyone could take advantage of, but we’re still an armored naval vessel, you know.”

_‘This is so confusing! The more I know, the more I don’t understand the shipgirls’ nature.’_ thought Amuro while massaging his temples.

The thought of these shipgirls getting shot by warship-caliber guns and yet survived instead of getting blown to pieces really didn’t make any sense to him. How did they possess the durability of their real ship counterparts when they barely wore any protective gear aside from their rigging armor plates which didn’t cover enough?

But as he was lost in thought, the car they were riding in suddenly stopped. Thanks to the safety belt, Amuro was spared from getting thrown out of his seat. Unfortunately, the same thing couldn’t be said for Repulse who was rubbing her red nose after her face slammed into the front window.

“Ow-ow-ow... my nose...” The brunette battlecruiser grunted in pain.

Seeing her reaction, the White Devil shook his head, having second thoughts that shipgirls were tough enough to eat a cannon shell as he opened the door and got out of the car. Their car currently was parked on the side of the road near the entrance to the forest.

Amuro walked to London’s side and looked at the dirt road filled with rocks, bushes, and trees on their right and left. “Is this the place?”

“It is, sir. However, because the road is too rough and narrow for this car, I’m afraid I can only take you here.” answered London politely before the heavy cruiser gave an apologetic bow.

“Looks like I’ll have to continue on foot.”

Suddenly Amuro ran inside the forest, surprising London who shouted back at him.

“Hey wait! Lady Wales told me that you can’t just go alone without Repulse accompanying you! Come back here!”

But her words fell on deaf ears as the Gundam pilot kept running until his form was gone from sight. At the same time, the Royal battlecruiser who just recovered finally got out of the car, making the bespectacled Royal cruiser frown in annoyance.

Repulse, knowing that she was at fault here for letting their guest run away without her supervision in the first place, scratched the back of her head and giggled nervously before she chased after Amuro.

Little they did know that they weren’t the only ones searching for the missing Nu Gundam...


	5. Stop The Iron Giant

_Azur Lane Base – Hillside Forest_

In the skies above the forest, two planes: the Supermarine Seafire and F4F Wildcat, were circling around the area as they searched for the supposedly alive and walking iron giant. However both Enterprise -who was riding on her Wildcat- and Illustrious -who was using her mental link from the Royal Mansion to see through her plane’s point of view- still couldn’t find any sign of said mechanical behemoth.

Enterprise narrowed her eyes. Maybe she was flying too high? The carrier then tilted the Wildcat’s wings slightly to descend and turned around to the opposite direction from where the Supermarine Seafire was going, ending their temporary team-up. Besides, she preferred to work alone.

But the problem was that the trees in this forest were very tall. They consisted of mostly pines which could grow beyond 40 meters while the white iron giant was probably around 20 meters if she guessed right. In other words, even if that machine managed to stand up and walk, it’d be still hidden from above.

_‘Focus... I have to find anything unusual.’_ Enterprise thought. Her eagle-like eyes scanned the area, looking for any anomalies.

Something caught her attention from the corner of her eye. Looking to her right, the carrier saw a group of birds flying away from the trees below. While Enterprise wasn’t an expert in animals, she knew that there was no way those birds would suddenly fly away like that unless they were fleeing from something dangerous.

Enterprise frowned. It looked way too suspicious. The shipgirl then pulled down her hat before she kneeled and accelerated her plane. The Wildcat’s engine roared louder as it descended lower towards the suspicious area.

* * *

_Royal Navy Mansion – Living Room Area_

“... Ah!” Illustrious’ head jerked up slightly. The woman in white was currently sitting on one of the velvet sofas in the room with Wales sitting next to her. Two cups of tea had been placed on small decorated plates atop the carved cherry oak coffee table before them.

While it looked like Illustrious was staring at her teacup, the Royal carrier was actually controlling her Seafire via mental link, seeing what transpired outside through the eyes of her plane.

Prince of Wales noticed her companion’s reaction and leaned forward. “Has something happened?”

“It’s Enterprise...” She answered. “She turned around and left. Why is she doing that?”

“Hmm... I guess she wants to find Mr. Ray’s Mobile Suit on her own.” The blonde battleship placed her finger under her chin in thought. “After all, she’s known for working alone like a lone wolf.”

Illustrious turned to Wales. “Then should I call my plane back to my ship?”

“No. Enterprise might not know yet that Unicorn’s friends are trapped inside.” Prince of Wales shook her head. “If she goes all out like before, there’s a risk she could accidentally hurt them.”

With a nod, Illustrious turned forward and lowered her head slightly. Meanwhile, Unicorn was sitting at the tea table where Illustrious and Wales sat, cradling Uni in her arms. The small round table in front of her was full of afternoon sweets, ranging from shortcakes, cheesecakes, scones, muffins, cream puffs, and macaroons made by Royal maids.

However, despite the tantalizing display that could make even people on a diet drool at the sight, the young light carrier hadn’t touch any of them yet and didn’t seem to have any appetite at the moment.

“Javelin... Laffey...” Unicorn muttered their names and looked at her ‘unicorn’. “Will they be okay, Uni?”

The small unicorn then jumped out of her lap onto the table and with its horn, Uni then gently pushed one plate of sliced shortcake to Unicorn. Confused with what her animal companion was doing, Uni then did something unexpected from a horse-like creature, it suddenly stood on its two legs.

Uni pointed its hoof at Illustrious. Unicorn’s eyes followed as Uni gave her what looked like a thumbs-up if it had fingers. The small unicorn indicated the light carrier girl and imitated her distressed look before pointing at Illustrious again. It finished by crossing its front legs and shaking its head at Unicorn.

Even though Uni couldn’t speak, Unicorn understood its body language. It told her not to worry too much because her big sister Illustrious was also doing her part to help Javelin and Laffey. If she kept feeling distressed over them, she would only make her worried.

“You’re right. Nothing good will happen if I keep worrying them. Thanks, Uni” with a small, relieved smile, Unicorn patted Uni on its head and stroked its mane.

Now possessing an appetite, Unicorn grabbed the nearby fork and took a bite of the strawberry shortcake. The sweet taste of the cake melting inside her mouth made the light carrier smile happily.

“Hmmm... it’s so delicious~” As if she had forgotten how she was feeling only moments ago, Unicorn offered Uni a forkful of cake, intending to feed it.

“Come on, Uni. Open your mouth and say aahh...”

* * *

_Hillside Forest – The Woods_

Currently Amuro was walking through the forest with Repulse guiding him. At first he wanted to go alone to find his missing Gundam ASAP, but after several –if not nonstop- attempts to persuade the Gundam pilot, ranging from how she knew this area better to telling Amuro that he could get lost if he went alone, even going as far as revealing that there were wild animals that could attack him, Amuro finally relented and followed at her pace much to his chagrin.

Their trip so far was uneventful as they only passed the obstacles one often found in a forest like bushes, sometimes blackthorns, low tree branches, fallen tree trunks, rocks, and at one point they came across a small shallow river. While Repulse looked energetic as she walked ahead, Amuro felt more concerned because there were no sign of his missing Mobile Suit. And as if the situation wasn’t bad enough for him, the weather was quite hot and the forest had a general uphill terrain.

“Hey, since we have time, how about you tell me more about yourself?” Repulse said, looking back at Amuro over her shoulder.

Amuro wiped off the sweat from his forehead and cocked an eyebrow. “More about myself?”

“Yep.” The duo jumped over a log as Repulse spoke again. “Like what kind of person you are or if you have any hobbies.”

As Amuro moved away from the tree branch that blocked his face, she looked back at him with a grin. “Or maybe what type of girl you’re into.”

The last inquiry took Amuro by surprise, enough that he didn’t see a rock on the ground near his foot which caused him to trip over it. Repulse giggled with an amused expression on her face as the White Devil shot her an annoyed frown before letting out a sigh, wondering why he’d let the brunette battlecruiser show the way again.

“I’m part of a special forces group.” answered the Gundam pilot before he hopped over another log. “You could say it’s like the police, but on a larger scale. That’s all I can tell you.”

It wasn’t as if Amuro didn’t want to share the information, but there were many things in his personal life that he’d rather keep to himself, among them were unpleasant memories that he wasn’t comfortable talking about with someone else. Besides, was now really the time for such a conversation?

“Aww, come on. Not even your love life?” asked Repulse in a teasing tone.

“No.” was the simple reply from him which made the Royal battlecruiser frown in disappointment and stick her tongue out.

“Booo... you’re no fun. Women don’t like men who keep secrets, you know.”

That statement only earned her a deadpan look from the pilot. The brunette shipgirl puffed out her cheeks before she turned around and crossed her arms. However she didn’t pay attention to what was in front of her and walked straight into a low tree branch that was at the same height as her head and...

**_*BONK!*_ **

“Ouch!” Repulse grunted, rubbing her forehead after hitting the branch before she looked back at Amuro. “Hey, you could’ve at least told me about that!”

“Maybe you should pay attention to what’s in front of you.” Now it was Amuro’s turn to chuckle as he walked past the brunette girl who was still rubbing her head.

Repulse chased after him. “Hey, wait for me you meanie!”

The two heard what sounded like an echo from afar and stopped walking. Repulse was about to ask what had just happened but Amuro suddenly clamped his hand over her mouth. He closed his eyes to listen carefully as the echoes became louder.

Then he heard rustling from the trees in front of them as the ground shook slightly. Amuro’s eyes widened in realization in regards to what would happen next. At the same time, Repulse quickly removed his hand from her mouth. The brunette girl was both upset and flustered at what the Gundam pilot had just done to her.

“Hey! What’s the big idea?” She demanded, throwing both her fists up. “That’s not how you treat a- Woah!?”

Before she could finish, Amuro suddenly grabbed her wrist and dragged her a few meters away behind one of the trees.

“Huh? Why are we hi-”

**_*RUSTLE! RUSTLE! STOMP!*_ **

Repulse’s words were cut short when a giant metal foot that belonged to the Nu Gundam suddenly emerged from the trees, knocking them down in the process, and stepped on the ground where they had been standing. The ground shook hard from the stomp, almost knocking both the Gundam pilot and shipgirl off balance.

The battlecruiser was frozen in place, her mouth hanging open, shocked at what had just happened as the white Mobile Suit walked past them, leaving several giant deep footprints. If Amuro hadn’t pulled her away, she would have been crushed flat like a bloody pancake.

It was still an unconfirmed theory that if a shipgirl didn’t have their rigging equipped, then they would lose most of their strengths to the point where they were no different than a normal human, but Repulse didn’t want to risk getting herself stomped on by giant walking feet to prove that.

The Royal shipgirl shook her head to snap herself out of her trance.

_‘Get a hold of yourself, Repulse! I’m a knight of the Royal Navy!’_ She mentally told herself and looked at Amuro. “Hey, that’s-”

“Yeah.” The Gundam pilot nodded. “My Mobile Suit. Come on, we have to move.”

“Mobile Suit?” Repulse tilted her head and placed her finger on her temple. “I thought that the iron giant was called uhh... New Gun... damn?”

Much to her dismay, Amuro didn’t reply as he had already moved ahead before the battlecruiser followed him. After following the trail of the fallen trees, both the Gundam pilot and the battlecruiser finally walked out of the woods and found themselves in a more open area.

And far ahead of them was the Nu Gundam walking in its former glory... Its appearance was now far from its pristine condition when Amuro sortied in it for the last time. Scorch marks were scattered across the Mobile Suit’s armor plating, some of which had been chipped off. The thruster exhaust nozzles on its back had been completely blown away and one of the psycoframe plate layers could be seen from the exposed left thigh.

“By the queen’s grace...” Repulse trailed off, once again amazed at the sight despite having seen it yesterday. Amuro noted how the Mobile Suit was walking at a sluggish pace like a drunk trying to walk straight.

They’d finally found the Nu Gundam but how could he stop it? If Amuro still had the psycoframe controller headset with him, he could make the Nu Gundam stop right now. But that device had been installed inside his pilot helmet which he’d left inside the cockpit.

That fact left the White Devil with another option and it was a risky one: If the identification sensors on the Gundam’s front were still responsive and could recognize his face, the Mobile Suit would immediately enter the standby mode for its registered pilot. But to make it happen, Amuro had to face the Nu Gundam which wasn’t an easy task because he was on foot while a Mobile Suit could easily outrun an adult by just walking.

And that was if the sensors were still functional. Since the Nu Gundam had been fried in the atmosphere, it was very likely that they would be unresponsive.

Amuro glanced at Repulse who was still awed at the sight of the walking metal behemoth and realized that he was with a shipgirl. His mind recalled how that maid named Curacoa had showed him her ship rigging and demonstrated the power of her cannons back at the mansion. Then he remembered that Repulse, being a battlecruiser, was basically a cruiser with battleship-caliber guns.

_‘I don’t know how strong her guns are but I have to try!’_ He thought before tapping the brunette girl’s shoulder. “Hey, Repulse.”

“Hm? Oh! Right! What is it?” Repulse snapped out of her trance and looked back at him.

“Can you uh... bring out your ship’s rigging?” Amuro asked, still not used to a shipgirl’s nature. “I don’t know how strong your cannons are, but if you can shoot that leg, it should be enough to stall it.” He pointed at the Nu Gundam’s exposed left thigh.

But instead of getting an enthusiastic response, a low groan escaped from Repulse’s mouth as she slumped down.

“Ugh, if I knew, we should’ve stopped by at the dock.” The brunette shipgirl looked at Amuro and shook her head. “I can’t. My ship is too far away from here.”

“Damn it...” Amuro clicked his tongue and clenched both his fists in frustration. He was running out of options now. If Repulse needed to be close to her warship, then they would have to come back later after retrieving her rigging. But by that time, the Mobile Suit would’ve wandered around, possibly endangering innocent lives.

His train of thought was interrupted when a huge shadow passed over them, blowing some leaves off their trees from the gusts of wind along with the roar of the piston-powered engines above. Both the White Devil and Royal battlecruiser looked up to see a grayish-blue propeller plane with stars and stripes.

When the plane ascended to make a sharp turn, Amuro’s eyes caught something that made him blink and shake his head to double-check if he wasn’t hallucinating. It wasn’t very clear because he saw it from the underside of the plane, but Amuro swore that he’d seen someone riding on top of that plane!

“Ah! That’s Enterprise!” Repulse exclaimed, pointing her finger at the plane known as the F4F Wildcat.

“Enterprise?” Amuro looked back at Repulse. “You mean-”

“Yeah!” The battlecruiser nodded at him, both relieved and excited. “The one who found you yesterday and the Eagle Union’s strongest warrior! If she could defeat that Sakura giant nine tailed fox, then she should be able to stop that thing.”

“Come again?” Amuro raised his eyebrow. Did she really just say giant nine tailed fox? Not only a Unicorn but also the mythical creature from Japanese folklore existed here?

* * *

_With Enterprise_

“There it is!” Enterprise exclaimed as she passed over the white metal giant before she pulled down her hat. “Engaging the enemy now!”

**_[Azur Lane – Iris of Light and Dark – B3/D3 Boss Theme]_ **

The carrier shipgirl’s fighter ascended and performed a sharp turn. When the Wildcat finally faced the Nu Gundam, it fired the 12.7 mm guns. Bullets impacted the white Mobile Suit, but even though it was already damaged in its current state, the bullets only bounced off against the Gundarium armor plating.

“Tch! It’s more durable than I thought.” Enterprise clicked her tongue. The Eagle carrier then flew around the Nu Gundam, aiming her bow and pulling the string back. A yellow ethereal arrow began to form between Enterprise’s thumb and index finger which was pulling the string.

“Let’s see you handle this!”

The energy arrow was launched from the bow and hit the waist armor which exploded upon impact. With her skill in archery, Enterprise continued firing arrow after arrow. The Mobile Suit’s knees, side waist armor, upper chest, and then head for all targeted.

Smoke erupted from where the white Mobile Suit had taken hits before slowly covering its entire form. Enterprise lowered her bow but she remained cautious.

“... What?”

The carrier’s eyes widened in surprise when a white armored hand emerged from the smoke that dissipated to reveal the Nu Gundam itself. The Mobile Suit was still standing albeit with more scorch marks and now broken sensors: one on its left shoulder and one of its eyes.

The Eagle shipgirl could only wonder what that thing was made of.

As Enterprise passed the Mobile Suit, she caught a glimpse of something between the trees below. It was a shipgirl from the Royal Navy, Repulse if she remembered her name correctly and the man they’d found inside of the iron giant yesterday.

“That man... why is he wearing the commander’s uniform?” Enterprise wondered aloud. But her attention shifted back to the Nu Gundam which had turned around.

* * *

_Inside the Nu Gundam’s Cockpit_

A large section of the panoramic screen had gone dark after taking damage from Enterprise’s arrows. Both Javelin and Laffey were currently hugging each other with their eyes closed after they thought this would be their end when Enterprise shot them with her ethereal arrows.

“Mmmn...?” The bunny-eared Destroyer was the first one to open her eyelids before she looked around, realizing that they were still alive. Laffey looked at Javelin who was still hugging her before she gently shook the purple-haired Royal destroyer.

“Javelin... Hey Javelin...”

“H-huh?” Javelin slowly opened her eyes to see Laffey looking back at her with the usual half-awake look. “L-Laffey?”

Laffey nodded back. Slowly, Javelin removed her arms and examined her surroundings. “We... we are still alive! Thank goodness...”

“We still can’t get out of here though...” The Eagle destroyer pointed out.

Suddenly, a small window popped on one of the panoramic screen panels which earned the destroyer duo’s attention. On the window, a wall of codes appeared and scrolled down with a progress bar beginning to fill up. Both Javelin and Laffey were dazed from looking at the infinite combination of letters and symbols that appeared so fast that their eyes couldn’t follow them.

When the progress bar reached 100%, a large text box with capital green letters appeared.

[ANALYSIS COMPLETE - SWITCHING TO AUTOPILOT - COMBAT MODE]

“E-eh?” Javelin blinked twice at the sign. “What does that mean?” She turned to Laffey. However, the sleepy destroyer just shrugged, shaking her head.

The Royal destroyer looked back at the screen, worried. Even though Javelin hardly understood the technology outside of her own ship rigging, she wasn’t totally blind to it. Those two words: auto and combat alone already raised a red flag in her mind.

As the text box and the command window disappeared, a yellow crosshair appeared on the screen and marked the visible F4F Wildcat in red and once again the Nu Gundam started moving on its own.

“Uh oh... What’s happening now?”

* * *

_With Enterprise_

“What is it doing?” Enterprise wondered. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she watched the Nu Gundam moving again.

The white Mobile Suit looked back at the aircraft carrier before it suddenly did something unexpected. It reached for the top part of a nearby pine tree which was as tall as the Nu Gundam and snapped it into a makeshift wooden club, making Enterprise wince at how easily the metal colossus broke the tree like a twig.

The Wildcat approached the Nu Gundam again while Enterprise readied another arrow. Seeing the incoming attack, the white Mobile Suit swung the tree diagonally upwards like a club which Enterprise dodged by barrel-rolling her plane to confuse her opponent as well. The Eagle Union carrier quickly shot the Nu Gundam’s shoulder armor twice, but her attacks only left more scorch marks and dents without making any actual damage.

The Nu Gundam turned around and swung the tree downwards, but once again Enterprise rolled the Wildcat sideways to dodge it. Now facing her opponent’s back, Enterprise shot the Mobile Suit in its thruster rack. Unfortunately, since the propulsion unit was already damaged in the atmosphere and had no more fuel, the Nu Gundam only stumbled forward slightly from the explosion.

Like a hornet battling against a large scorpion in the desert, every time Enterprise dodged the Nu Gundam’s attacks, she retaliated by firing her arrows at various areas of the Mobile Suit’s torso. As durable as it was when it took her first set of arrows, the scorch marks and dents were enough evidence for Enterprise that her opponent wasn’t invincible at all.

_‘I just need to keep going on!’_ thought the Eagle Union’s ace.

The two kept exchanging attacks for a while until the Wildcat flew a bit farther away. The Nu Gundam noticed this and suddenly reeled back its arm and with its immense strength, threw the broken tree in a spinning motion like a death copter right at the Wildcat.

“Ugh!?” Surprised, Enterprise tilted her aircraft to dodge the incoming greenery which completely missed her. She looked back at the spinning tree in midair and her eyes widened upon realizing that it was flying towards the academy area!

“Damn it!”

The Eagle Union shipgirl grit her teeth gained altitude and pulled a sharp U-turn. Then, using the Wildcat’s cannons, Enterprise shot the spinning tree into chunks of wood which fell to the trees and ground below shortly after.

Looking back at her opponent with a heated glare, the Nu Gundam already had another broken tree in its hand, albeit it was a bit shorter than before. Once again the white Mobile Suit pulled its hand back and...

“I won’t let you this time!”

Before the Nu Gundam could throw another tree, an energy arrow was launched from the Wildcat’s rider which struck its hand and exploded, destroying a portion of the tree. As what remained of it fell to the ground, Enterprise used this moment of distraction to dive and fly between her opponent’s legs to get behind the Nu Gundam.

The Wildcat gained height as the carrier shipgirl turned around and fired more arrows. However, when those arrows was about to hit, the white Mobile Suit suddenly turned around and swung its right arm wide, causing Enterprise’s arrows to hit the armored gauntlet instead.

“Guh!?”

Caught off guard by how fast the metal giant turned around, the Wildcat did another sharp turn to evade another arm blow. It was just a brief moment before the arm blocked her arrows, but Enterprise saw something that might be her opponent’s weakness...

The rear left thigh whose internal workings were exposed. There was a piston-like mechanism with sparks of electricity flying around. Whatever it was, Enterprise guessed it might work in the same manner as the thigh bone or femur as Vestal often referred to it: a part in human anatomy which supported the most body weight.

_‘If I can take it out, maybe this thing will stop moving.’_ She thought. _‘But first, I need a distraction.’_

With a determined, sharp look, Enterprise brought her fighter around and did another U-turn, facing the Nu Gundam directly again. The white Mobile Suit flashed its sensor ‘eye’ before it reeled back its right arm, ready to punch the incoming fighter out of the sky.

And that response was what Enterprise wanted. As she approached, the carrier shipgirl narrowed her eyes and held her bow tightly before she crouched slightly.

When the Nu Gundam threw its punch, Enterprise immediately leaped and then curled her body in midair. Time seemed to be slow down as Enterprise rolled forward, passing over the Mobile Suit’s head. Her coat grazed slightly against the tip of the Nu Gundam’s fins while the giant fist made contact with the tip of the Wildcat’s propellers.

**_*SMASH!*_ **

The fighter was smashed into pieces in an instant before its engine exploded, sending its pieces everywhere like a frag grenade. But as this happened, the carrier shipgirl was already behind the Nu Gundam, shielding her from the explosion.

Still falling in midair, Enterprise uncurled herself and turned around, now facing the exposed rear thigh area of the Nu Gundam.

“It’s over now!”

With those three words, Enterprise pulled her bow and launched a single arrow at her target. Unlike the last time, the energy arrow struck the inner mechanism of the Mobile Suit’s thigh. More electric sparks violently sprayed out from the malfunctioning frame before an explosion erupted, throwing away the carrier shipgirl from the force due to being too close.

Despite that, Enterprise managed to regain her bearings and gracefully landed on the ground. The Eagle Union Ace fixed her cap before looking back at the Nu Gundam.

The white Mobile Suit stood still for a moment before it slowly lost its balance and fell to its knees. Enterprise was ready to fire another arrow when she saw the iron giant try to stand again. But with its thigh damaged even more, it now lacked any means to channel its power and support its weight.

After a few more failed attempts, the Nu Gundam finally stopped moving due to the system overload as the green lights in its eyes and sensor slowly faded. Enterprise let out a relieved sigh after finally stopping the iron giant before it could come near the academy area. Then she heard multiple footsteps coming her way which prompted her to turn around and find both Repulse and the man they rescued yesterday.

**_[End of Iris of Light and Dark – B3/D3 Boss Theme]_ **

* * *

_With Amuro and Repulse_

“She did it! She really did it!” Repulse jumped in joy before she turned to the Gundam pilot with a smirk. “See? I told you Enterprise could handle it.”

Amuro however paid no attention to what the battlecruiser said. His mind raced as questions arose, ranging from how someone could ride a plane like that without falling off and the beam arrow-like weapon the woman used to fight the Nu Gundam. An easy answer would be that it was the power of a shipgirl just like how one converted their ships into riggings...

He immediately shook his head. Too many things today didn’t make any sense and he hadn’t brought any aspirin to ward off potential migraines. At least the Nu Gundam had stopped moving and he needed to get Unicorn’s friends out of the cockpit while making sure to lock the activation system before anything worse could happen...

Hopefully he wouldn’t jinx it...

“Hey! Are you listening?” Repulse tried to get Amuro’s attention again, but much to her ire he had already ran ahead.

Both the Gundam pilot and Royal Battlecruiser ran towards the kneeling Mobile Suit, until Amuro saw a lone figure standing with her back turned to them. The shipgirl whose name Repulse gave him as Enterprise.

Her long white hair under the white cap and her long black coat fluttered in the wind as the shipgirl stood before the Mobile Suit. Unlike Curacoa whose ship rigging had multiple mechanical limbs with turret guns and ship armor plating, Enterprise’s rigging consisted of a miniaturized flight deck attached to her back, which was longer than she was tall and a compound bow with a ship bridge design in her left hand.

When Enterprise turned around, Amuro’s gaze met with hers and both he and Repulse stopped in their tracks. Neither said anything as they sized each other up which made the Royal battlecruiser rather uncomfortable.

After what seemed like an endless staring contest between the White Devil and the Grey Ghost, Amuro walked past Enterprise towards his Gundam.

“Wait.”

Amuro stopped and looked over his shoulder to see Enterprise who didn’t even look back at him. But one could already tell that she still had the same look on her face.

Enterprise turned around and placed her right hand on her hip. “After this, I want to hear your story. So do not even think of running away.”

“I won’t.” was the reply from Amuro as he located the hidden switch in the Nu Gundam’s foot to open the cockpit hatch from the outside. A low-pitched whistling noise and pressurized air came out of the Nu Gundam’s chest vents. Amuro slid open a small panel next to the button, revealing another hidden red button. When he pressed it, a zipline was shot out from the hatch.

Both Enterprise and Repulse watched as Amuro ascended to the cockpit using the zipline. After a few moments, the White Devil came out carrying an unconscious Javelin in a fireman’s carry. Seeing the Royal destroyer, Repulse immediately moved to help as befitting a Royal Knight.

Once Amuro found his feet on the ground again, he gently moved the unconscious girl from his shoulder into the brunette’s arms before he returned to the Gundam’s cockpit. Both of Javelin’s eyes had rolled back and her mouth was open while slightly drooling.

“Lady Javelin. Please wake up.” Repulse tried to wake the destroyer by tapping her cheek. “Come on. This is so unladylike of you. What if Lady Wales saw you like this?”

Still getting no response, the battlecruiser sighed and placed Javelin’s arm around her neck and held her wrist before walking to the nearby tree to rest the Royal shipgirl there.

Meanwhile, the White Devil was pulling another girl with twintails out of the Nu Gundam’s cockpit. Unlike Javelin, Laffey seemed to be asleep according to the snoring and slight drooling from her mouth. But as Amuro approached the Eagle destroyer, his nose suddenly twitched from the smell of alcohol coming from her. Amuro jerked back slightly and looked at the sleeping girl in disbelief before he slowly approached once more and smelled it again, causing him to stare at the girl in exasperation.

“A girl of her age... is already drinking booze?” He wondered aloud before slowly moving the bunny destroyer from the pilot seat.

Amuro pulled up the cockpit console and began to input some commands to check his Gundam’s current condition. A small window, showing the diagram of the Nu Gundam with damaged areas marked in red appeared on the screen. He looked at it for a moment before letting out a relieved sigh. Aside from the external structure and power failure on the left leg, the ultra-compact fusion reactor was undamaged.

Typing more keys, the diagram window disappeared and another one containing a folder marked Security System showed up. But, when Amuro checked the folder, he got a warning message box instead.

“I was right...” Amuro muttered. “Some security program files were corrupted. But when did this happen?”

Shaking his head to focus back on more important matters, the White Devil closed the message box and the window before inputting another command. A blank window appeared and Amuro began filling it with code. After he was finished, a message box popped out which had the option of yes or no. Without any hesitation Amuro chose the former. The screen swiftly went black.

_‘At least this will prevent anyone from playing around with the Gundam.’_ He thought before gently lifting the girl onto his shoulders.

Outside the cockpit, Enterprise was already waiting below as Amuro descended while carrying Laffey in the same manner as Javelin. Once he let go of the zipline, the Gundam pilot handed the sleepy destroyer over to Enterprise.

Unbeknownst to them, a lone Seafire airplane was hovering up in the air -something which should be impossible for a propeller driven plane- watching everything happening below.

* * *

_Royal Navy Mansion – Living Room Area_

“By the holy light...” Illustrious trailed off, amazed after seeing the iron giant or Mobile Suit as Sir Ray referred to it from her plane. Unicorn and her little Uni had now joined the adults, sitting next to her ‘big sister’.

“Are... are Javelin and Laffey okay, big-sis?” The light carrier meekly asked.

The busty aircraft carrier turned to Unicorn and patted her head with a gentle smile. “They are fine Unicorn. I’m just a bit... shocked after seeing this iron giant.”

Prince of Wales took a sip from her teacup before putting it back on the table. Unlike Illustrious, the blonde battleship had seen the white Mobile Suit after receiving the reports from the Renown sisters when they returned while carrying the unconscious Amuro Ray.

As a Royal Navy shipgirl who held elegance in high regard, Wales had to keep her head cool in any situation like she had been taught to. However, there were a few moments and things that could throw her off. Her initial reaction when she saw the metal colossus in the forest with her own eyes honestly was... almost no different than Illustrious.

“From what Sir Ray told us, this... Mobile Suit was also quite common from where he came from.” She said, crossing her arms in thought. “But... What kind of nation is capable of producing this kind of machine in large numbers and how come we’ve never heard anything of its existence until now?”

Illustrious put her finger under her chin. “Maybe it’s because that place is a bit isolated like Northern Parliament?”

“I think that’s a question Sir Ray should answer once they return.” replied Wales before rubbing her temple with a slightly exasperated look. “But for now, we have more important matters at hand.”

“Oh my, what would those be?” The Royal carrier worriedly asked.

The exasperated look on Wales’ face slowly turned into a somewhat mischievous smile. Illustrious knew that look quite well, it was the look Wales usually gave to Ark Royal whenever she got caught red-handed stalking the destroyer shipgirls. The busty shipgirl in white couldn’t help but feel sorry as to what awaited Unicorn’s friends after this.

“What kind of punishment we should give to Javelin and Laffey for their recklessness, of course.”


End file.
